


Star Trek: Enterprise - In a Galaxy Far Far Away

by allen_bair



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Wars - All Media Types, Stargate - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 05:56:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16191470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allen_bair/pseuds/allen_bair
Summary: After the discovery of the Cheyenne Mountain SGC complex in Colorado, and its intact computer database, the crew of the NX-01 are stranded across the universe and millions of years in the past in an experimental warp drive/hyperspace trial. They find themselves a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... Contains crossover elements from Star Trek: Enterprise, the origina Star Wars extended universe movies and books (pre-Disney), and Stargate: SG-1.





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue

 

July 19th, 2156, underneath Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, Earth.

 

“Dr. Jackson?” The assistant's lilting, musical voice called with an echo down the archaic metal and concrete walls. She was a young, blond intern from the University of Colorado where he taught archeology on a semi-retired basis. When he didn't respond right away she yelled again, “Jack?!”

 

Dr. Jonathan “Jack” Jackson turned his head suddenly from a panel he had been inspecting, adjusted his glasses and looked in her direction. “Yeah?!” He called back.

 

“I think we found something you're going to want to see.” She responded.

 

They had been digging in this site near old Colorado Springs, Colorado for the last three weeks. The city itself had died in a nuclear attack way back in the mid two thousands, but this underground system of tunnels had survived more or less intact. It had been a military installation for the former United States government during the time of his great-great-great-grandfather, before a third world war broke out and tore that nation apart, that is.

 

His ancestor, a Dr. Daniel Jackson, had been another archaeologist like himself, and according to his private diaries which he had been given the fortune of discovering many years before, this place had been of extreme importance to his life.

 

He came over to the intern's side to look at what she had discovered. Most of the facility lying under Cheyenne Mountain they had uncovered had been buried in rubble, especially the upper levels that had been known as NORAD a hundred and fifty years earlier. It had started life as a launch facility for a nuclear ballistic missile, and was then later used for the command and control of North America's air defense systems. This site had been hit hard by a nuclear attack during WWIII. But these levels where they were, the deep, deep basement levels were still mostly intact. They had been designed and reinforced to withstand much more powerful attacks from both outside the mountain, and even, oddly enough, from within.

 

His ancestor's journals had set him on a quest to prove something that, much like that older ancestor, set him at odds with the accepted view of the academic community. It was common, accepted knowledge that Earth's first contact with extra-terrestrials happened in Montana in 2061, and that human beings from Earth had no ability to travel faster than light before Zefram Cochrane invented and successfully tested his warp drive. But Dr. Daniel Jackson's private journals drop-kicked that accepted view out the window like a well aimed football. To be sure, those journals had been a well guarded family secret until his own father had passed away and he had been given the key to a safety deposit box the Jackson family had held since his ancestor retired from his very eventful life, was married, and had a small family. If the previous Dr. Jackson had been right, then the evidence for it should be down here somewhere. He just wished that his ancestor had left a map of the facility.

 

They were standing in what had, at one time, been a missile silo. It wasn't unlike the one which Dr. Cochrane had launched his now famous warp ship from. This one though had a ton of debris lying in it and around it from the collapse of the silo's walls from the attack. From his ancestor's description though it looked like the room he wanted. The room which might prove everything. The big question was whether or not “it” was still here, buried under all the rubble and rock.

 

“Good work, Stacy.” He told her. She was one of his best students, and one of the few that was willing to chance ending her career before it began by believing in his outlandish theories. “What we're looking for, if it's here, is a large, metal ring covered with symbols around the circumference. I'm guessing it's probably about three meters or more in diameter.”

 

“Yes, Doctor.” She said, obviously pleased by his praise.

 

He lifted his eyes to scan what remained of the walls above and spotted still intact windows and a staircase leading to the room behind them. “The control room.” He said to himself. Would it still be intact? He wondered. Would the computers still be intact? Functional? Probably not, but he had to see.

 

According to his research, after the attack no one returned to Cheyenne Mountain to unbury it because everyone who knew about this facility had either been killed, or had gone missing, presumed dead. Vanished off the face of the Earth. There hadn't been enough of a United States government left by the end of the war to recover any of it, and the facility had been so top secret that the United Earth government which came into being after first contact had absolutely no knowledge of the existence of this place.

 

He took a flashlight and headed up the stairs and into the room. The first thing he noticed was the little red, yellow, and green lights blinking on and off in seemingly random patterns. It took a minute for him to comprehend. There was still power here. The computers were still working. There was copious amounts of dust everywhere, but the room, with it's ancient computer workstations and control panels was still intact. He scanned the walls for a light switch. Finding it, he flipped it to the “on” position. The overhead lights in the room came on.

 

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. “Stacy, come up here!” He shouted in excitement. She emerged from the stairs into the room a few moments later, panting. “Yes?” She said, huffing and puffing, and then looked around. “Oh, wow.” She exclaimed.

 

“This proves it, doesn't it?” She asked him, still in amazement at their find. None of it should still be working, they both knew. Not with the technology of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. None of this equipment should even be viable, much less operational and powered.

 

“Not yet.” He said. He wanted to be cautious. He needed more prove than ancient computers that were still working after a hundred and thirty years. “But it's a big step in the right direction.” He moved over to the main console which looked out through the big windows into the main room they had just been in. The room where “it” was supposed to be. If they could find it, that might prove everything right there, but he was never that lucky, and luck wasn't something he trusted.

 

He pressed an elongated button on the keyboard. The space-bar, he remembered it was called. Suddenly, all the displays in front of him came on at once giving them a dizzying amount of information. Star charts, coordinates, communications data, it was all right here, still on the screen, as though it had been left running and no one had stayed behind to turn it off or secure it. He looked at the coordinates on the screen in front him. They were accompanied by seven strange symbols representing star constellations. He wouldn't have known what they were, except for his ancestor's diary.

 

“This might prove it, though.” It was all right here, he realized. The database was still intact...

 

Chapter 1

 

April 4th, 2158, NX-01 Enterprise, dry-dock, in orbit above San Francisco, California, Earth.

 

“Captain's Personal Log: April 4th, 2158,” Archer began speaking into the air in his quarters aboard the Enterprise. The ship's computer dutifully took note and began recording. “Most of the crew has come back from their shore leave, and it's good to have Enterprise full of people again. It was beginning to feel like a ghost town. We've spent the last week in dry-dock being retrofitted with an experimental propulsion system that is so top-secret, Starfleet has only authorized myself, Commander Tucker, and Commander T'Pol to know the full details of it. When I was first told about the project, I thought they were pulling my leg. I learned that Zefram Cochrane wasn't the first human being to make first contact. I learned that he wasn't even the first human being to develop faster than light travel. That honor went to someone named Dr. Samantha Carter a hundred and fifty years ago in something called the 'Stargate Program.' The admirals in charge wouldn't tell me about everything they found, just enough to sort of know what they're getting me and my crew into. If it works, it'll make all of Dr. Cochrane's work, and my father's for that matter, obsolete. I can't even wrap my head around that. I had thought thirty million kilometers a second was ridiculously fast, but the Starfleet engineers who built the hyperspace engines are right, they'll leave warp five looking like a nice leisurely stroll. They're talking about speeds of up to six thousand light-years an hour. It'll open up not only the Alpha Quadrant, but the entire Milky Way, and other galaxies besides. I agreed to the test on my ship only if they agreed that this new propulsion system would be installed in addition to the tried and true warp engines. I was assured that it wouldn't even be a problem. They use completely different power sources, and could operate independently of one another, possibly together even. Trip and T'Pol, after doing the number crunching, tell me that it might work, in theory, which is the other reason why I agreed to it. The test is scheduled for six hours from now, ship's time, and I can't help but begin to have a bad feeling about it. I have questions that the admirals couldn't or wouldn't answer, like why wasn't the technology put into use when it was developed, and if it was, why did Earth wait for so long after before we really went into space? They tell me that ships were developed and put into service. What happened to them? They can't tell me. I'll defer to T'Pol's and Trip's judgment on it, and if they say it's worth the risk, then it's worth the risk, but I just can't shake this feeling like something's going to go wrong.” After a few minutes, he said, “End log.”

 

He sat there in his chair going through all the variables in his mind. In a way, he was being asked to be a test pilot again, something that part of him had jumped at. But he didn't have to risk the lives of eighty-three crew members, many of whom were now closer to him than family, when he flew x-planes years ago.

 

“Hyperspace.” Just the word made him feel like he was in one of the old science fiction stories that had been so popular when this technology had first been developed.

 

He checked the clock, 0600 hours, ship's time. He'd been awake since 0500. He still had a couple of hours before he was due on the bridge. He had time to get a shower, and get some real breakfast.

 

Hyperspace. He thought again to himself. Why did it make him so uneasy? The way it had been explained to him it wasn't that much different from warp drive, with the exception that you were passing into another dimension altogether for a short time. Technically, like warp drive, you were never exceeding the speed of light, or anywhere close to it. Except with warp drive you created an artificial pocket of space around you and it was the space around you that was moving faster than light, not the ship itself. In hyperspace you were still using your regular impulse engines but moving through a different dimension that shortened your trips considerably. That was all well and good, and according to the information he was given, the old United States Air Force use to clandestinely operate about half a dozen ships with that technology not only around earth but all the way across the galaxy and even into other galaxies on routine flights. So it had been proven reliable and safe to use by them at the time.

 

But there came the wrinkle. Some engineer—and he had to be careful with that thought because one of his best friends was an engineer—had put two and two together, literally, and wanted to experiment with moving through hyperspace at warp speed. That was the last test they were supposed to run, to see if combining the technologies would allow them to cross distances that even those older vessels hadn't hoped for. Instead of taking a day to reach Vulcan, imagine it taking a few minutes. Instead of exploring their own quadrant of the galaxy for weeks at a time only covering a few hundred light years, imagine crossing from the Alpha to the Delta Quadrants of the Milky Way in a day; or from the Milky Way to the Andromeda in a week or less. It had apparently only taken three weeks with a standard hyperdrive to run from Earth to a planet in the Pegasus Galaxy. The possibilities were astounding, but so was the potential for ripping his ship apart in the attempt. He had seen the math, and he knew the risks, and the closer they came to the test, the worse he felt about saying yes.

 

He rubbed his hands across his face and silently cursed the academic who had made the discovery. He needed a cup of coffee. By the end of the day, he thought he might have needed something a lot stronger.

 

He then wondered yet again what had happened to the people who had run the Stargate program in the first place? Were their descendants still out there? Were they still on some planet on the opposite side of the galaxy where Earth and her allies couldn't yet reach them? Did they know what happened to Earth after they left? Why hadn't they ever tried to return? Or maybe they did and didn't like what they saw. Had they returned during the short reign of the augments like Khan Noonian Singh, they might have come to the conclusion that the United States and Earth in general were lost causes. He wouldn't have blamed them for turning around either.

 

He went and jumped into the shower for a few minutes, then put on a clean uniform and headed for the mess hall to try and fortify himself for what the rest of the day might bring.

 

* * *

 

Fifty Light Years from Earth...

 

The old star had been there longer than most everything else around it. It had seen rings of dust form around it after it had been formed sometime closer to the birth of the universe and those rings had formed into the planets that had orbited it once upon a time, until each in turn had spiraled into its surface as it went through its own stages of birth, life, growth, and now old age. It couldn't reckon time, but if it could it would have known that it had lived for billions of years and now its time was done. It was good. And as the last of its nuclear fuel was spent it collapsed in a great sigh of relief and went dark. Very dark. So black that even the light around it couldn't escape from it as the huge void it left behind began sucking everything else around it into a great whirlpool of destruction of unimaginable proportions.

 

The loss of the star wouldn't be seen from Earth or its allies for that matter for decades. No one could know that it now lay on the test-flight path of a relatively low tech starship, or how its gravity well would distort and impact that test flight. Their sensors and scanning equipment, designed for the rigors of relatively slow warp travel just weren't advanced enough to deal with sensing normal space phenomena while in transit through hyperspace. They wouldn't see it at all when running through the eleventh dimension of hyperspace encased in a warp field.

 

Black Holes had a way of ruining everyone's plans for the day.

 

* * *

 

Millions of years prior, in a galaxy on the opposite end of the known universe...

 

Silva Kai, fourteen year old Jedi Padawan, Coruscanti native and newly apprenticed to Jedi Master Ben Skywalker, fidgeted with excitement and anticipation. She maintained the serene silence while accompanying her master which had been expected of her while he spoke to other masters as best she could, but her face could be far too expressive for her own good. It had only been three weeks prior that she had been taken under his tutelage in the temple, and now she was really going with him on an actual mission!

 

Her light brown hair had been tied back in a functional braid, with the exception of the small braid which ran from near her right temple that marked her as a Padawan. No matter how hard she tried to practice her breathing and calming techniques she just couldn't maintain the dispassion she knew she was supposed to. It was awesome!

 

The older man standing next to her smiled in amusement as he could feel her excitement crashing into him through the Force. He didn't make any effort to acknowledge it openly, wanting to spare her dignity in front of another master, but he would have to discuss it with her later in private. Emotional control could be all important in the life and service of a Jedi, as he knew all too well.

 

“...need you to accompany a Galactic Alliance Star Destroyer to the Outer Rim near Tatooine. There is a disturbance in the Force that feels to be coming from that region of space.” The master in front of him continued.

 

“I know, I've felt it too.” And Ben wasn't the only other master to have felt it either. Something was going on in the Force, something big, and it reached them all the way in the Core from the edge of the galaxy.

 

Master Solo continued, “The ISD is going there on routine patrol so you'll effectively be accompanying them as extra passengers, but the Jedi Council has good relationships with her commanding officers. They'll know why you're there and have agreed to give you as much leeway as their own mission allows for.”

 

“Yes Master.” Ben was formal with his cousin Jaina in public in the Temple like this, but they shared an unbreakable bond of personal anguish and sacrifice which transcended most intimate relationships. The formality seemed more appropriate out in the open somehow. It wasn't how his father had run things when he was Grandmaster, but things hadn't always run smoothly then either. Family matters and attachments needed to stay out of the Council chambers, and all too often his own family's personal matters had dominated Council business and set the agenda. It wasn't his father's fault, per se. The man had been forced to single-handedly restore the entire Jedi Order from scratch and had largely succeeded, but his own informal personal style had influenced everything to the point where chaos was more the norm than calm order. No one remembered Grandmaster Skywalker with anything but warm fondness and deep respect for all that he had accomplished in his life, but with his and Jaina's parents passing there came a kind of settling down and reorganizing peace as the newest version of the Jedi Order had finally found its place in the Galaxy neither ruling the Galactic government, nor being ruled by it, but working as its partner in everything much more like the old Order. Stability, calmness, and peace ruled in the temple these days, and everyone felt the better for it.

 

“You will take a shuttle and rendezvous with the _Mara Jade Skywalker_ in orbit in two hours.” Jaina continued.

 

Ben winced inwardly at the mention of his mother's name. He had thought it a nice gesture on the part of the Alliance to honor his mother in that way when the ISD was renamed, but even after more than fifteen years, he still had nightmares about her death. He felt no such discomfort from her, but it had been some time ago and they had both moved on as best they could. If Jaina had noticed his discomfort, she chose not to show it, possibly not wanting to embarrass him in front of his apprentice. His Padawan was so preoccupied with her excitement she didn't seem to notice either. Hmm. He definitely needed to have that talk with her. She hadn't left herself open to the Force. That could be dangerous for both of them.

 

Then the two of them stood in silence, waiting for the other person to speak and add anything more. When nothing more came, Jaina said, “May the Force be with you.”

 

“And also with you, Master.” Ben replied as he watched her walk down the hall towards the Council Chambers.

 

“So, should I allow you to bounce up and down now, or should we wait until we're on the shuttle?” Ben asked his Padawan playfully.

 

Silva's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. “Sorry, Master.”

 

“Don't be. But don't allow your excitement to obscure your connection to the Force, young Padawan. You miss far too much when you're caught up in your own feelings. Always remain open to the Force.”

 

“Yes Master, it's just that...” She struggled a little.

 

“Yes, what?” He responded.

 

“It's my first real mission with you. It's really the first time I'll be going off Coruscant, or even outside of the Temple for that matter.” The words just fell out of her mouth and she stumbled over them.

 

“Ah. I understand.” He did. Not everyone had the galaxy ranging upbringing which his family brought him. He actually preferred staying home in the Temple and teaching these days to going off world. He had gotten the adventure bug thoroughly exorcized out of his system the hard way a long time ago when he was a kid. “But don't hope for too much excitement. We're just going to investigate. It probably won't involve lightsabers or bad guys at all.” He told her. Inwardly, he thought to himself, we should be so lucky.

 

“But still! It's off world in a Star Destroyer!” She said, her excitement rising again.

 

“Well, then maybe that'll be more than enough excitement for the both of us.” He told her. He hoped for both their sakes it would be true. But the Force often had other ideas for him and his family. He couldn't do anything about that but submit to the will of the Force and hope for the best.

 

“C'mon, let's go get packed so we can make the shuttle in time.” He told her.

 

* * *

 

April 4th, 2158, Enterprise, Outside of the Sol System's Gravity Well

 

“We almost ready down there Trip?” Archer asked his chief engineer through the ship's comm system from the bridge. Commander Trip Tucker was down in engineering where he belonged to keep watch over his beloved warp engines and the new Hyperspace propulsion unit which he had affectionately nicknamed the Hyperdrive after the FTL engines of the Science Fiction stories of time past.

 

They'd been putting the Hyperdrive through it's paces all afternoon through the Sol System, making short hops from Earth to Mars to Jupiter and checking their sensor data all the way. So far, the system had worked exactly as it had been originally designed. They made the calculations, pointed the ship in the direction they wanted it to go, and engaged the Hyperdrive keeping time on a glorified stopwatch. When they had been in Hyperspace for the calculated amount of time it would take they disengaged it and presto! They had arrived on target almost every time. Those times they hadn't had just been a matter of adjusting the math. The one factor which unnerved everyone is that those times they were in hyperspace they were effectively flying blind. The sensors couldn't cope with anything but normal space, or the normal space distorted around them when at warp.

 

“Yes sir, almost ready. It's just been a matter of getting the timing in the simulations right. We have to engage the warp engines less than a second after the hyperspace window opens. It's pretty tricky getting it right.” Trip's voice came through the comm.

 

“All right, well we've been batting a thousand all afternoon. I hate to say it, but the antique Hyperdrive has been putting our state of the art warp five engines to shame.” There, Archer admitted it outright. He was a big enough man to do so.

 

Trip was quiet for a moment before answering. Then there came a terse but resigned, “Yes, sir.”

 

“Don't feel so bad, Trip,” Archer responded. “I didn't really want it to work either.”

 

“Gotta give old Doc Carter credit though, whoever she was,” Trip shot back as a conciliation. “Even the Vulcan scientists had a hard time wrapping their heads around the math and energies involved.” He paused for a moment, then said, “No offense, T'Pol.”

 

T'Pol, Enterprise's Vulcan science officer cocked her eyebrow, and said in a dignified manner, “None taken.”

 

“I mean, this is some really advanced stuff. It's hard to believe they came up with this a hundred and fifty years ago without help. I'm just saying.” Trip said.

 

“Tell me about it.” Archer responded. “Of course, it was only in the twentieth century that they discovered the ancient Greeks were making mechanical calculators as far back as the first century. They thought it had been a new, modern idea in the late eighteen hundreds.”

 

“Just goes to show you how much we don't know about where humanity's been or what human beings are really capable of, don't it?” Trip responded.

 

“How very true.” T'Pol said quietly, to Archer's silent amusement.

 

“So, we ready yet, Trip?” Archer asked again.

 

“Yes, sir. Simulation is good, and I'm feeding the right numbers into the engine computers now. There we go, Captain. I can't get it any more perfect than that. We'll either have a smooth ride, or we'll never know about it.” Commander Tucker responded.

 

Thanks, Archer thought, just what I needed; a reminded of how badly this could go wrong if we're off by the slightest fraction. He didn't say that. Instead, he addressed his helmsman, Lieutenant Mayweather, “Okay, Travis, ready when you are.”

 

Travis started working his control board, “Okay, setting countdown timer and Hyperdrive clock. Coordinates laid in. Hyperdrive is primed, warp drive is standing by. Waiting on your order, Captain.”

 

“Warp three only for this run, Travis.” Archer said. No need to push it today. We're just testing a theory.

 

“Understood sir.” Travis responded.

 

“Engage.” Archer gave the order.

 

In front of them the hyperspace window opened and a split second later, the Enterprise jumped to warp into the window.

 

* * *

 

The Enterpise never saw the singularity lying in its path. Their sensors, useless as they were, never registered that they had been caught in hyperspace at warp three slingshotting around the gravity well of a newly formed black hole, and they wouldn't have understood the significance of all of that information yet. The only thing they took notice of was what seemed to be a slight power fluctuation and dimming of the lights on the bridge for a few seconds. No one noticed the effect it had on the hyperspace jump timing clock. The universe was funny that way.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

Millions of Years prior, in a galaxy on the other side of the known universe near the Tattooine binary star system...

 

The Alliance Star Destroyer _Mara Jade Skywalker_ emerged from hyperspace. It was only one ship on patrol, but even an aging Star Destroyer was enough of a threat that only one might be needed. It was well armed and retrofitted with all of the latest armaments. She was no flying museum piece, but a capable and highly efficient assassin when she needed to be. Much like her namesake had been.

 

Ben mused on this similarity with his mother as the stars reverted to their normal pinpoint brightness. The twin suns of Tattooine shone brightly in the distance against the ever black void of space. The planet Tattooine itself was on the far side of the system. Their mission would take them near his father's and grandfather's homeworld, but not to it.

 

Silva stood calmly next to him on the bridge. Passengers or no, they were still Jedi, and the ship's commander, Captain Kelleon respected the Jedi and the unofficial authority that surrounded their presence. Ben could feel his Padawan's concentration as she controlled her enthusiasm at seeing new places. He was impressed she had gotten herself under better control.

 

“You're doing better, Silva.” He encouraged her.

 

“Thank you, Master.” She replied.

 

Ben opened himself up to the Force and reached out across the system. The disturbance was here. He could feel it pulsing, but he couldn't tell what it was or anything more specific. He concentrated harder and a speck appeared in the distance, vague but real. There were living beings in that speck.

 

“Captain Kelleon, there's an unidentified vessel three million kilometers off to port.” An officer spoke up urgently, breaking Ben's concentration.

 

“No transponder signal?” The captain moved to the control panel that the lieutenant was seated at and looked at the sensor screen.

 

“No sir, and the vessel doesn't match any configuration in our database.” The lieutenant responded to the question.

 

“Move the ship to intercept. I want them to have a good look at us before they explain why they're refusing to broadcast their transponder signal.” The captain ordered. “Smuggler scum.”

 

Ben almost took that last part personally. His uncle had been a smuggler, as had most of the friends of his family. “Smugglers captain?” Ben asked.

 

“Has to be doesn't it? Who else wouldn't be identifying themselves per Alliance codes?” The captain responded. “This close to Tattooine, they're probably coming right out of Mos Eisley about to make a run of spice for some Hutts.”

 

Ben reached out to the ship in the Force to get a better idea of who they were. He felt surprise from them, a little bit of trepidation, but he also sensed duty and professionalism as well. There was something else too, they felt... lost. Like they didn't know where they were.

 

“I'm not so sure they're smugglers, Captain. Something doesn't fit. Perhaps you should talk to them before arresting them.” Ben suggested. He put a little bit of the Force behind his suggestion, but it didn't take much.

 

Captain Kelleon looked at his sensor screen again. “I'd like to fix a tractor beam on them in any case.” He said.

 

“If you must, but hear them out first. I'm sensing more confusion from them than malicious intent.” Ben told him. “I think they're lost.”

 

“Alright, we'll do it your way, Master Jedi.” Captain Kelleon relented. He moved to the comm officer's station and told them to broadcast. “Unknown vessel, please identify yourself, your cargo, and your flight plan...”

 

* * *

 

The bridge crew of the Enterprise were staring at the forward viewscreen in total, dumbfounded disbelief. The triangular vessel which approached them was easily twenty or thirty times the size of their own ship, and their sensors which had resumed normal function after exiting hyperspace were telling them that it was very well armed.

 

“Unknown vessel, please identify yourself, your cargo, and your flight plan, over.” The disembodied voice came through the bridge comm speakers loud and clear and in English. The universal translator either had no issues with the language, or their own UT device was doing the translation for them.

 

“Uh, sir,” Lieutenant Mayweather began, “is that what I think it is?”

 

“I don't know Travis. But I could swear we just saw something like it on the last movie night.” Archer responded.

 

“Sir,” Lieutenant Commander Reed spoke up, “they've got a weapons lock on us, and I shouldn't have to say that it won't take much for them to pulverize our hull plating. I doubt they'd need more than one shot. I recommend trying to talk our way out of this.”

 

“This is Captain Jonathan Archer of the Earth Starship Enterpise,” Captain Archer began, then paused trying to think of what to say next. He had grown very used to first contact situations, but this one had taken him completely by surprise. “We're not a cargo ship, but an exploratory vessel, and as for our flight plan we were running a field test on an experimental engine. It's going to take us a few minutes to get our bearings and figure out how to get home.” He paused again, and then added, “and who might you be?”

 

It took a few minutes before the authoritative voice spoke again. “This is the Galactic Alliance Star Destroyer _Mara Jade Skywalker._ Why are you not broadcasting a transponder signal as per Alliance regulations and shipping codes?”

 

“We weren't aware of those regulations. We're not from around here, and at the moment we're not even sure as to where here is.” Archer responded. Then looked towards T'Pol who had been trying to bring up any navigational data which might be useful and could find nothing. She shook her head. No matches between the stars outside and the database, Earth, Vulcan, or otherwise.

 

“Are you having navigational trouble? Do you require assistance?” The voice asked, a little softened.

 

Archer looked around, nodded, smiled and then said “Assistance would be great, thanks.”

 

“Continue on your present heading, cut your engines, and prepare for tractor beam. We're bringing you into our hold. Do not attempt to resist. Prepare to receive boarding party.” The voice said in a manner that said without saying, “you have no choice in the matter either way.”

 

“Boarding party?” Archer asked. But the voice had stopped transmitting. A few seconds later they felt the jerk of a tractor beam locking on and pulling them. They had no control over it.

 

:”Hey Captain?” The familiar voice of his chief engineer came over the ship's comm system. “How'd we do? Did we make our target again or do we need to readjust our math?”

 

“I'll get back to you on that Trip.” Archer responded. “In the meantime, get up here to the bridge. I'll fill you in once you get here.”

 

* * *

 

“Well, what do you think, Master Jedi?” Captain Kelleon asked him sincerely. “Do I take them at their word, or not?”

 

“I don't feel anything from their captain but sincerity. At the same time they seemed to both recognize the star destroyer and be confused by it, like it couldn't have been real to them.” Ben answered.

 

“Is it possible, Master, that they really don't know what an ISD is?” Silva asked.

 

“Many things are possible, young Padawan; just not so many are plausible. But it will be interesting to speak with them, nonetheless. I think we've found the source of our disturbance.” Ben replied. Then he turned to the captain and asked for permission to board the strange vessel with the boarding party.

 

“There's a lot about this that seems strange to me. Of course Master Jedi, I'll defer to your judgment.” The captain said. “If they really are who they say they are, and you're there then there's no reason to send a full boarding party to commandeer the ship. I'll send a smaller number of troopers with you, is four too many?”

 

“I'm sure that'll be fine, Captain.” Ben responded. “I really don't feel any hostility from them, but it would be good to have the proper authorities represented in any case.”

 

Ben and Silva then took their leave of the bridge and proceeded towards the ship's vehicle hold.

 

* * *

 

The bridge crew on the _Enterprise_ were silent for a few minutes as the reality of what was happening hit them. They were being pulled into the belly of a star destroyer by a tractor beam, and they had no choice but to let it happen and hope they could talk their way out of it.

 

Commander Tucker came out of the turbolift and started asking, “Ok Captain, what's this all ….” He stopped talking when he saw the forward viewscreen and the triangle shaped ship which grew continually larger in it. “What the hell?”

 

“Indeed.” T'Pol offered, then filled him in quickly.

 

“Sir, this can't be happening can it? I mean that was just an old movie from almost two hundred years ago. That can't be what they say it is. Even the name of the ship, the _Skywalker_? Seriously?” Lieutenant Mayweather expressed what was on everyone's minds.

 

“I don't know Travis. Apparently it can, and we are.” Archer responded.

 

“What was it called again, 'Star something or other'?” Commander Tucker added. “Good movie, but totally unrealistic, I thought. We were going to watch the sequel this coming weekend.”

 

“Apparently not as unrealistic as previously believed.” T'Pol said.

 

“And,” she added, “as far as we know they represent the legitimate authority for this region of space, and we are compelled to follow all local customs and laws as much as we are able.”

 

“All too true.” Archer agreed as he watched his ship being sucked into the belly of a beast more strange and frightening than the fictional Ahab had ever faced.

 

As the ship passed the threshold of the bay doors they could see rows upon rows of smaller space craft, landing craft, huge armored vehicles with legs, all both very alien, and very familiar all at the same time.

 

“It appears this is some kind of military carrier vessel.” T'Pol commented.

 

“Are those X-wings?” Travis asked to no one in particular.

 

Archer said nothing as he looked at the forward viewscreen.

 

“It looks like they've got an army capable of taking and occupying an entire planet in there.” Lieutenant Reed commented. “There have to be tens of thousands of soldiers on board this ship.”

 

“Over forty-five thousand life signs. Most of them human.” T'Pol commented after looking at her science station controls.

 

“Most of them?” Archer asked.

 

“Many of them are species which are unrecognized by the ship's computer.” T'Pol said.

 

“So there are multiple, different species all working together aboard the same ship?” Archer asked.

 

“It appears that way, Captain.” T'Pol responded.

 

He relaxed a little then. “Well, then maybe it's not as bad as we thought. Our own worlds are trying to put together a federation of planets. Maybe these people just beat us to it, whoever they are. The similarities to certain movies notwithstanding. I feel a little better that at least they're reasonable enough people to work together in spite of their differences, and we're all for that, aren't we?”

 

He received a general assent from everyone on the bridge.

 

The _Enterprise_ continued its slow motion ascent into the bay until it stopped and was locked into place, the jolt of which was felt by everyone on board.

 

“ _Enterprise_ , please send an unarmed reception party to your saucer section, port side airlock.” The voice spoke through the system comm speakers again.

 

“Will do.” Archer responded.

 

“Ok, folks. You heard the man, let's go meet our new friends.” He told them. “Malcolm, T'Pol, you're with me. Trip, you have the bridge.”

 

“Should we have a security team standing by sir?” Reed asked.

 

Archer pointed at the forward viewscreen. “Against that?”

 

Reed looked in the direction Archer pointed, then said, “Right. So, nothing more than smiles and handshakes then?”

 

“Looks that way. Let's hope that's all we need.” Archer said.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Aboard the Star Destroyer _Mara Jade Skywalker_ near Tattooine

 

One, two, three knocks. Lieutenant Reed unlocked the airlock and opened it. He, Captain Archer, and Commander T'Pol had been waiting at the airlock for about five minutes when the knock came. There was a slight whoosh of air as the air pressure equalized, and then they stepped back to meet their new “friends”.

 

In front of them stood a bearded man with red hair dressed in brown and tan robes that were reminiscent of a monk or a priest from Earth's Buddhist traditions. Next to him was a teenage girl with longer light brown hair braided back into a pony-tail with an additional thin braid on the right side of her head. They each had small cylindrical devices attached to their belts. Behind the two “monks” were what could only be four uniformed and armored soldiers carrying what looked like some kind of projectile or plasma based weapons.

 

Archer took the first step, “Jonathan Archer,” he said extending his hand, “Captain of the _Enterprise_. And you are?”

 

The older monk took his hand and shook it in a friendly manner, “My name is Ben Skywalker, Jedi Master, and this is my Padawan Apprentice, Silva Kai.” He said motioning to the girl next to him. They stepped from the airlock door and were followed by the soldiers.

 

“This is my tactical officer, Lieutenant Commander Reed, and my science officer, Commander T'Pol.” Archer said, motioning to each in turn. The monk shook Reed's hand and gave a slight nod to T'Pol.

 

“I have to admit, this is a little smaller of a boarding party than I had expected.” Archer told him. Then eying the monks' dress he said, “forgive me, but you two don't look like official military.”

 

Master Skywalker gave him a strange look. “I persuaded the Captain of this ship to allow us a little leeway. I don't get the sense that you're smugglers.” The older monk said.

 

“No, no. Not smugglers, just a little lost.” Archer said, letting his unanswered question go for the moment.

 

“I was led to believe that we might be of some assistance to you.” Jedi Master Skywalker responded.

 

“Yes, I was hoping so.” Archer motioned to T'Pol and said “This is our science officer, she can better describe what's happening.

 

“Our navigational computers aren't recognizing any of the stars that our sensors can detect. It's acting like it has to completely rebuild the navigational database.” T'Pol said.

 

“Where are you from?” Master Skywalker asked.

 

“A planet called Earth. Might I ask where are you from?” Archer asked in the friendliest manner he could muster.

 

The monk looked at him curiously. Archer hadn't thought the question that strange, but he got the feeling that the monk thought it should have been obvious.

 

“Earth...” Master Skywalker looked pensive as he thought about it. “I've never heard of that system before. Is it in the Outer Rim?”

 

“The outer rim of what?” Archer asked.

 

“You really don't know where I'm from or who I am?” Master Skywalker asked. “You really don't know about the Jedi?”

 

“Jedi?” Archer asked again with a blank stare.

 

“You have never heard of the Jedi?” The young girl spoke up incredulously.

 

“I'm sorry, should we have?” Archer had in fact heard the term before, and quite recently. He just didn't know what to do with the people in front of him claiming to represent them.

 

“Perhaps we could go somewhere to sit down and talk a little more comfortably. I have a feeling we both have many, many questions that need to be answered, and that those answers won't come quickly for either of us.” Master Skywalker suggested.

 

“There's a conference room available right this way.” Archer suggested.

 

“Of course.” The Jedi Master then turned to his soldiers, informing them a search of the ship for contraband was probably unnecessary, and then gave them instructions to report back to Captain Kelleon and give him an update. Once they were gone back through the airlock he then turned to Archer and said, “Lead the way.”

 

* * *

 

Ben sipped his cup of “coffee”, as these strangers called it, having patiently answered questions and asking a few of his own. The hot, dark brown liquid wasn't much different from the caf one might be sipping at any of hundreds of tapcafs near the Jedi temple on Coruscant. It was a little stronger, perhaps, and slightly more bitter, but it certainly wasn't a bad replacement. Silva sat in the chair next to him silently observing the other people around the long conference table. Behind them were observation windows which normally looked out onto empty space, but were now filled with a much less pleasing view of the star destroyer's interior hull walls.

 

Their story was incredible. Not impossible, he knew, just incredible. Across from him at the other end of the table sat Captain Archer. He was a man full of energy, and Ben observed that he had a difficult time remaining seated as he stood up several times over the past couple of hours as they talked. Ben and his apprentice both found the strangers' mention of their close similarities to fictional characters from one of their world's equivalents of a holovid mildly amusing, but also somewhat disturbing. There had been all kinds of holovids made of his family's life and adventures, and the name _Skywalker_ was known from one end of the galaxy to the other because of this and other obvious historical reasons. But how, if they were who they claimed to be, could they have possibly seen any of them?

 

“You will have to show me this 'movie' some time. I'd be interested to see it.” Ben said amiably.

 

“Sure.” Archer said with a smile. “I'd be happy to arrange it. Maybe it can clear some things up for the both of us.”

 

The man was genuine, Ben noted. He was nothing if not genuine. He tactical officer, Lieutenant Commander Reed was reserved and cautious. The non-human member of the meeting, Commander T'Pol had an incredible amount of emotional control and dispassion. She studied and analyzed everything which was said by him and his Padawan.

 

“As for the rest of your story, I am honestly at a loss myself. I have sincerely never heard of the planet Earth, or Vulcan, or Denobula, any of the other worlds you have named as having been to.” He then added, “I have not been sheltered in the temple my whole life either. In my lifetime, I personally have been to or been told of a large percentage of the inhabited worlds and systems in this galaxy.” Ben told them, and it was quite true. He had seen more of the galaxy in his first sixteen years than most people would their entire lives, much less the last fifteen.

 

“How is that possible?” Reed asked. “Even with the experimental hyperspace engines which we're carrying it would still take months if not years to cross from one end of a galaxy to the other.”

 

“You must understand, Lieutenant Commander,” Ben began patiently, “Our civilization has been space faring for at least thirty-five thousand years. I would hazard it to be far longer than this, but our own historical records only go back so far. What is an 'experimental technology' for you is something people in this galaxy have used routinely for tens of thousands of years. This star destroyer you're currently housed in can make it from here to Coruscant, near the galactic Core, in a few hours at most. This is a distance of thirty-three thousand light years.”

 

“Oh.” Reed said, looking a little sheepish.

 

“But if that's the case,” T'Pol asked, “then why have we never made contact with your people. My people have been exploring this galaxy for a thousand years, and we have never run across your people or culture, much less a galaxy spanning federated government.”

 

“I honestly don't have the answer for that.” Ben said. “You're right, we should have made first contact with you a long time ago.”

 

“Is there anything in this region of space which could have caused our navigational computers to malfunction so badly so that we have no recognizable reference points at all? We were supposed to have a jump target of fifty light years from Earth's solar system.” T'Pol question again.

 

“None that I'm aware of. My father grew up on the inhabited world in this system, and he never mentioned anything, unless it's something new. But if it is, it hasn't affected the _Skywalker's_ navigation at all.” Ben responded, taking another sip of his coffee. “And it couldn't have been your experiment at combining propulsion methods?”

 

“I don't see how.” T'Pol said. “I would defer to Commander Tucker's expertise on engineering matters, but Starfleet computers have operated successfully at warp for years without this kind of an issue.”

 

“At warp, but not through hyperspace?” Ben asked.

 

“No, we were flying blind through hyperspace. We had to time our jumps with a stopwatch and take sensor readings when we stopped.” Archer answered. “Our equipment wasn't designed to take normal space measurements from a different dimension.” It had been one of his concerns when Trip told him about it.

 

“Still, it shouldn't have wiped your navigational data.” Ben concluded.

 

“It didn't.” Archer explained, his frustration becoming more evident. “Our navigational data is there, it's just not matching to the stars outside at all.”

 

“And it should be?” Ben asked just to clarify. “You have star charts of your target region of space, though never having been there?”

 

“That's the problem, we had been to our target region several years before. It was the farthest we'd ever traveled. We should have had the navigational data in place to be able to point the ship back the way we came.” Archer made a sweeping motion with his hand towards the observation windows and the white bulkheads outside. “This isn't it.”

 

“Clearly.” T'Pol added.

 

“Could we possibly have access to this ship's star maps? At least enough for us to get our bearings?” Reed asked.

 

“Within certain security limits, I don't think the Captain will object. It won't hurt this ship or compromise anything vital. I'll make the call and ask him.”

 

Ben pulled out his comlink and signaled the _Skywalker's_ bridge.

 

“Bridge here, over.” Came the crisp response.

 

“This is Master Skywalker. I need to speak with Captain Kelleon.” Ben told the comm officer.

 

“Right away, sir.” Came the response.

 

“You command a great deal of authority over the military personnel for not being military.” Reed observed.

 

“The Jedi have a complicated relationship with the Galactic Alliance and their military.” Ben responded. Next to him, Silva stifled a snicker.

 

“Master Jedi?” Captain Kelleon's voice came through the comlink.

 

“Captain, I'd like to arrange a transfer of navigational data from the _Skywalker_ to the _Enterprise_ to update their computers.” Ben requested.

 

Silence. Then, “Nothing classified of course?” He asked.

 

“No, of course not. Just basic galactic star chart data anyone would possess.” Ben told him.

 

“Their computers are that bad off?” The captain responded.

 

“I'm afraid so.” Ben responded.

 

“I'll have it copied to a storage device and sent down with my compliments. So, they're legitimately stranded? What about their transponder signal? They won't be able to land or orbit anywhere without identifying themselves. At least not without running the risk of being shot to pieces.” The Captain said.

 

“The _Enterprise_ isn't equipped to make landfall.” Archer said. “But I'd appreciate not being a flying target for trigger happy security people.”

 

“We'll have to work with them on that.” Ben responded into the comlink.

 

“Understood. Keep me apprised. Kelleon out.” The conversation ended.

 

“Thank you for that. Maybe now we'll be able to get our bearings.” Archer said.

 

“Of course.” Ben said. “It will probably take a little while for them to send down the data in question, and I'd like to see this 'movie' about us.”

 

“It's in our computer database.” Archer said. He picked up a tablet sized device from the table he had been referring to periodically during their discussion, made a few quick taps on the surface and then asked his officers present, “What was it called again?”

 

“Star Wars.” T'Pol answered.

 

 _Star Wars?_ Ben mused. Yes, that was as good a description of his family's history as any.

 

“Right, Star Wars.” He tapped a few more times and then handed the device to Ben.

 

Two dimensional moving images started playing across the screen as Ben and Silva watched them flash by, beginning with a long line of text in a script neither could read. Ben took another long sip of his coffee which had cooled considerably during their discussion. Then the images became all too recognizable. The ships were a little out of proportion, the costumes and sets were stylized, but the history it was unveiling was all too familiar as he watched an actress playing his aunt slip some information to an R2 unit—the real R2 unit in question being back on Coruscant with his cousin Jaina—and a little later on a black robed figure which could only be his grandfather lifting another actor off his feet and choking the life out of him, throwing the remains against a hull wall.

 

“Where did you come across this?” Ben asked, his emotional detachment breaking just a little bit. He had seen more than one holovid about these very events, some better than others, but the reality of these events, who and what his grandfather was; that still chilled him, especially after what his cousin Jacen had become. What he had done. It could never be anything but chilling to him.

 

“My family's history is a matter of very public record,” Ben told him. “And I've seen many such 'movies' like this one about them, but I've never seen or heard of this particular one. When was it made?”

 

“It was made a hundred and seventy-five years ago on Earth.” Archer told him.

 

“That's not possible.” Ben said. “These events only took place sixty three years ago.”

 

“Your family?” Reed asked, incredulously.

 

“Yes. My family. These actors are clearly portraying my late aunt Leia, and my grandfather, Anakin Skywalker.” Ben then added, “Most people know of him by the Sith name, Darth Vader.”

 

“These events only took place sixty-three years ago? You mean this actually happened?” Archer asked, visibly stunned.

 

“Very much so. These are clearly actors on sets, and it's obvious the person who made this didn't see anything of these events or even our civilization himself, but I can tell just from these opening scenes that this is our history. In fact this opening scene took place not far from where we are now, in this very system in fact. It was these events that ultimately led to the galactic government which is now in place.” Ben responded. “How could people on your world have known about it with such detail almost two hundred years ago?”

 

“I don't know, but I'm beginning to have a bad feeling about this.” Archer said, looking at T'Pol. “There are days when I wish the Vulcan Science Academy had been right all along.”

 

T'Pol silently assented.

 

“I don't understand.” Ben asked in confusion.

 

“With all of your advancements, do you have any experience with or way to track time displacement?” T'Pol asked, calmly.

 

“Time displacement? You mean time travel? No. None that I'm aware of. Not here anyway. Maybe there might be something in the Temple Archives on Coruscant.” Ben told him. He knew seeing and even interacting with the past was possible through the Force up to a point. Dangerous, but possible. His long dead cousin could do it, and he had learned the technique himself many years before but had wisely chosen not to employ it. The past was nothing to interfere with lightly. But he had never heard of a machine capable of moving through the flow of time.

 

“Are you suggesting we've gone back in time again, Captain?” Reed asked.

 

Archer's face darkened a bit as he ran his hand over it. His frustration was beginning to boil over. At one time, he'd been eager to prove to T'Pol that the Vulcans were wrong on time travel. That it could and did happen. He'd even been a little smug with her about it. Then it kept happening again and again to him and more importantly to his ship. The last time it happened it almost stranded them in an alternate second world war on Earth where Nazi Germany had successfully invaded the United States. After that, his outlook on time travel soured immensely. He meant it when he told Daniels that he never wanted to see him or any temporal agents ever again.

 

“Again?” The young girl next to the Jedi Master in front of him asked disbelievingly. “This has happened before?”

 

Archer remained silent, unable to speak without snapping in anger until he composed himself. Whoever these people really were, they certainly weren't the cause of it, and he didn't want them to be the targets of his misdirected wrath. “Daniels.” He said quietly under his breath. His evident anger radiating from him in waves no one could fail to notice.

 

“Perhaps you know more about this than you realize, Captain?” The Jedi Master asked.

 

“Maybe.” Archer admitted. He then gave a brief explanation of who and what Crewman Daniels had been and how he had sent them on unwilling missions back and forth through time.

 

T'Pol then interjected. “But Daniels usually appeared to give you some information about what was happening. If he was responsible, he would have shown himself by now.”

 

Vulcan logic. She was right, but it didn't make him feel any better, because now he really didn't know who to blame. Daniels could have at least given them a clue as to when they were. He was back to square one.

 

The comm beeped just then. “Captain Archer?” The disembodied voice of a security officer spoke through the speakers.

 

“Go ahead.” Archer said.

 

“Sir, there are officers from the... ship here with a package for you and our guests.” The security person told him.

 

“Very good, escort them to the bridge. We'll be there in a few minutes.” Archer responded, noting the pause. He couldn't quite bring himself to believe the monster ship around them was what it was either. Now maybe we might get a few more answers, he thought.

 

* * *

 

A few minutes later they were all gathered around the bridge. The officers from the _Skywalker_ were professional and even a little friendly as they worked with Commander Tucker to interface the storage device with the ship's computer system. After making the adjustments for conversion between a base-eight to a base-ten number system and a few other “minor” obstacles, the data began to transfer smoothly over a wireless system into the ship's computers.

 

“Sorry this is running so slow, sir. We didn't realize your systems would be this outdated.” The officer apologized innocently.

 

Commander Tucker's first impulse was to take offense. Outdated? But then he thought better of it. “That's OK. Just take your time. We're not in any hurry.” He said with a sigh.

 

“Of course, sir.” The officer replied.

 

“Just how much data are we talking anyway?” Commander Tucker asked.

 

“How do you measure your data storage?” The officer asked.

 

“We use a binary system. Ones and zeros. Two of those makes a bit, eight bits to a byte, a thousand bytes or so to a kilobyte and so on.” Tucker responded.

 

The officer pulled out a calculating device and tapped it a few times. He then said, “It's about five hundred exabytes of data.”

 

Tucker's mouth opened in a silent “Wow.”. He then snapped back and did a few quick calculations of his own. “Ok then. I think we can hold that, but it's going to be a tight squeeze.”

 

“Five hundred exabytes?” Archer looked at the _Skywalker_ officer in astonishment. “You've charted that much space?”

 

“This is basic navigational data, usually installed in a new ship's database before leaving the shipyards.” The officer said. “It's updated constantly, but even then it's the minimum needed to navigate safely.”

 

They waited for another hour as the _Enterprise's_ computers were brought up to speed and assimilated the data. During that time they also worked out with Commander Tucker a way for the Enterprise to send a proper transponder signal on the right frequency so they wouldn't find themselves be questioned by the authorities again. Once that was done, and everyone was satisfied, the officers stood up to leave, telling Archer, “Captain Kelleon instructed us to leave the storage unit with you with his compliments; just in case your systems fail again.”

 

“Please thank him profusely for us.” Archer responded.

 

The officers nodded, and then departed under light escort by security back to the airlock. The two Jedi remained on the bridge while Commander Tucker and T'Pol worked on integrating the new data with the ship's own star charts to work out where they were.

 

“Anything yet, Trip?” Archer asked, impatient.

 

“Yes Captain, I'm just piecing it together now. It looks like their charts were meant to be viewed in three dimensions holographically. That explains the amount of data. It's just another wrinkle. Give me a minute.” Trip replied.

 

“When you've got it, put it on the forward viewscreen so we can all see.” Archer said.

 

“Yes, sir.” He replied. After another couple of minutes he said, “and presto.” He looked towards the forward viewscreen, and directed everyone else's attention that way as well.

 

“There we are.” Tucker said.

 

On the forward viewscreen was a dot representing the _Enterprise_. The view kept expanding outwards and new names appeared beside other points on the map in front of them as new star systems were added from the new star charts. First, Tattooine A and B and the world which also bore that name came up as the system where they were currently located. It continued to expand outwards until a semi-realistic representation of the entire galaxy filled the viewscreen. It didn't look as familiar as they thought it should.

 

“Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's not the Milky Way I know.” Archer said.

 

“No sir, it certainly isn't.” Tucker responded.

 

T'Pol spoke up, “Commander Tucker, cross reference this database with the Vulcan database and Enterprise's own star charts, as well as any astronomical data available in the ships computers. See if we can get a better idea of our location relative to Earth. Also see if we can compensate for stellar and galactic drift. Maybe we can also get a better idea of when we are as well.”

 

“When we are?” Tucker asked.

 

“Just do it, Trip.” Archer said soberly.

 

Trip just shook his head, and tapped a few more screens and images began to flash across the forward viewscreen as the picture expanded outward exponentially.

 

“That can't be right.” Reed spoke up.

 

The viewscreen finally settled down to a single, awe inspiring image. On one side was the image of the Milky Way galaxy they knew. On the other side was the galaxy in which they found themselves. In between was the burning center of the known universe.

 

“Are you telling me we crossed ninety billion light years in a few seconds?!” Archer exclaimed. “How the hell did that happen?”

 

No one had any answers for him.

 

“Captain, I've got a possible answer on the when and, well... you're not going to to believe this.” Tucker said.

 

“Try me, Trip.” Archer said.

 

“Well, after calculating for stellar and galactic drift, the computer's telling me we're somewhere around six and a half million years in the past give or take.” Tucker told him, not believing it himself.

 

“A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...” Lieutenant Mayweather remarked in a whisper, eyes locked on the screen in front of them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Bridge of the _Mara Jade Skywalker_ , Tattooine system

 

“I'm sorry, Master Jedi, Captain Archer,” Captain Kelleon apologized to the two men standing in front of him. “I really am, and I do sympathize with your plight. But my orders are clear, The _Skywalker_ needs to remain in this system for the time being. As much as I may want to help, I can't budge even a little. Even with a Jedi Master making the request.”

 

Captain Archer had accompanied Ben, who had left his apprentice with the _Enterprise_ crew in their mess hall, to the bridge of the star destroyer to make a very unusual request. The _Enterprise_ needed to hitch a ride halfway across a galaxy.

 

“Well, is there any way we can just stay put in your hold until you make the jump back?” Archer asked. It was humiliating enough for him to be, effectively, hitchhiking in a perfectly good starship without having to almost beg. His problem was that the distance which he needed to take his own ship would leave him seeing his great-great-great grandchildren making port by the time they arrived using his trusty warp engines. And after the accident with the hyperdrive that stranded them across the universe Archer was nearly dead set against trying it again.

 

“Captain, his ship's hyperdrive unit is primitive at best, and is the possible cause of their stranding, and they have no way of seeing where they're going while in hyperspace. I need to return to Coruscant to notify the Council of what we found and consult the archives in the temple for a possible solution to their problem. Is there no way you could even ferry us even just part of the way?” Master Skywalker tried to reason with him.

 

“No.” Kelleon then started speaking in lower tones. “There's been an upswelling in pirate attacks on shipping, legitimate and otherwise here in the Outer Rim. It used to not be the Alliance's problem, but ever since worlds like Tattooine came under Alliance protection... Well, our job just got a lot harder. That's why we're here. To babysit the smugglers, Hutts and farmers on Tattooine.” Kelleon sounded disgusted. “I'd rather be playing taxi to be honest than just sitting here to look intimidating.”

 

“They could make short jumps to Naboo, sir. The _Protector_ is scheduled to be in orbit there in a few days, and then return to Coruscant.” A nearby officer overhearing offered.

 

“Short jumps to Naboo. Hmm.” Kelleon began thinking. “If it were us, we could be there in an hour or so. The Naboo system is only nine thousand light years from here. Yes, if you make short jumps, take sensor readings every time you jump, yes... even with your ship you'd be able to make it to Naboo in a day or so. Certainly by the time they arrive. And,” Kelleon looked at the Jedi Master, “I assume you could use your Jedi senses to help them navigate around things their sensors don't pick up. I've known a few Jedi who could do things like that.”

 

Ben thought about it. “Yes, I could use the Force to guide us through to Naboo, if they'd be willing to trust me with their ship.” Ben turned to Captain Archer.

 

“The Force?” Archer asked. “I don't understand.”

 

“The Force is an energy field produced by all living things. It surrounds us, it binds us, and holds the galaxy together. There is no life without the Force, and through the Force the Jedi can do and see many things. The Force is the source of a Jedi's power. I can do what Captain Kelleon is suggesting, but it depends on you trusting your ship with my abilities within the Force.” Ben told him.

 

“I'm afraid it's the best I can do for you, Captain Archer. I can make the call to the Captain of the _Protector_ and make the request, or not. It's up to you.” Captain Kelleon told him.

 

“Well, when you put it like that I guess I don't have much of a choice.” Archer admitted. “Well, looks like you and your apprentice get the scenic tour to Naboo.” He told the Jedi.

 

“Indeed it does.” Ben said.

 

* * *

 

The Captain made the call and set up their rendezvous in a week's time. Ben retrieved his and Silva's small bags from their cramped quarters aboard the star destroyer and removed them to spare quarters with a double bunk on board the _Enterprise_. Archer apologized for the cramped space and spartan furnishings, to which Ben said they were more than adequate for two Jedi and that he had stayed in much worse. It would've surprised the Captain, Ben was certain, as to how much worse at times.

 

Silva had spent her time in the ship's mess hall becoming acquainted with the _Enterprise's_ comm officer, Lieutenant Hoshi Sato, who spent the time being determined to introduce her to the _Enterprise's_ dessert menu.

 

“So what do you normally do with your days?” Hoshi asked Silva. “What's it like being a Jedi?”

 

“We train. We meditate. I was in regular classes in the temple until I became Master Skywalker's apprentice.” She responded.

 

“What about your parents? Are they proud of their daughter being a Jedi?” Hoshi asked.

 

“I don't know. I don't remember my parents. I was raised in the temple since I was a year old.” Silva state dispassionately.

 

Hoshi's mouth opened in surprise. “Why would they keep you from your parents?”

 

“They didn't. My parents agreed to send me to the temple because of my high sensitivity with the Force.” Silva explained, matter of factly. She had never met anyone who didn't understand the real necessity of why the Jedi did what they did with Force sensitive children. “If they hadn't, I could have grown up without training and I could've fallen prey to the dark side of the Force and become a real threat. It could have been a total disaster for not just my family and I, but possibly for the entire galaxy.”

 

“Oh.” Hoshi said, then dug into her ice cream thoughtfully.

 

“It's one of the sacrifices the Jedi make. We must keep ourselves free from attachments as much as possible, and family can be a very big attachment. Attachments can lead to fear. Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering and the dark side of the Force.” Silva tried to explain further.

 

“So then what do they teach you at the temple.” Hoshi asked. “What is it that the Jedi do?”

 

“We're taught to use the Force as well as let it guide our actions and thoughts. We're also trained in the Jedi martial art of lightsaber combat, diplomacy, starship piloting, as well as more general studies of the sciences, culture,.art, literature, mathematics, and so on. The temple academy is considered the most elite school in the galaxy. When a youngling reaches thirteen or fourteen they are apprenticed to a Master as a Padawan until the Council feels they are ready to be given the rank of Knight. Jedi Knights are peacekeepers dedicated to keeping the galaxy in balance. This is what being born attuned to the Force means.” Silva told her.

 

“Wow.” Was all Hoshi could say. “That's a lot of responsibility for a fourteen year old.”

 

“It's what I am.” Silva replied.

 

“What is that?” Hoshi asked.

 

“A Jedi.” Silva responded.

 

* * *

 

“Captain's log: April 5th, 2158, at least that's the date I'm going with for this log. The actual day and year are unknown. After three successful tests with the new hyperspace engines, our final test combining the warp engines with a hyperspace window has stranded us eight million years in the past, and in a galaxy on the opposite side of the universe. Commanders Tucker and T'Pol are still trying to work out what could possibly have thrown us off target so badly. We emerged from hyperspace in a binary star system, and were immediately stopped by the local authorities for not having the proper ID. They graciously assisted us with updating our navigational computer data, and helped us solve our ship's ID problem. After taking on board peacekeeper representatives of their government, or so I'm told, by the name of Jedi Master Ben Skywalker and his Apprentice Silva Kai, we are now, against my better judgment, attempting to use the hyperdrive only using short jumps to make it to a planet called Naboo where we hope to hitch a ride with another vessel to their government's capital world to try and find a solution to our problem of being stranded in time and space far from home. While I trust the warp engines far more, they're practically useless for the kinds of distances we need to cross right now. We've made two small jumps so far, and both have been without incident. Those two jumps have carried us a thousand light years in a few hours time. We have also learned that the accepted history of the galaxy we find ourselves in bears an uncanny resemblance to an old movie series from the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries called 'Star Wars'. During the periods between jumps as we run sensor sweeps and make our calculations, I've ordered all nine video files we have in the ship's media database as mandatory viewing for all bridge crew, and recommended viewing for the rest of the ship's crew as their duties allow. Master Skywalker tells me that the stories, people, and places these films describe are mostly accurate even if a little dramatic license was taken with some of it. We need to know what we're dealing with as quickly as possible.”

 

Those few hours, he should have mentioned were mostly taken up with sensor sweeps and allowing the Jedi Master to feel his way through space to make sure they didn't hit anything. Each actual jump had only lasted about five minutes each. The truth, they were all coming to realize, was that their sensors just couldn't see far enough ahead for them to plot a straight course safely.

 

Archer became frustrated again as he sat in his chair on the bridge wondering what could possibly possess the engineers in Starfleet to adapt the engine technology without taking into account the inability of the ship's navigational sensors to keep up with it? The good Jedi Master was being extremely helpful and gracious about the whole thing, but the truth was that they were impotent to get anywhere they needed to go without him right now. Archer was increasingly thankful that this Jedi Order taught its people how to pilot space craft as well as meditate and keep the peace.

 

Speaking of which... He'd reviewed the first two films in 'Star Wars' series in the times between jumps, and now he was working on the third, viewing it on a small tablet's screen. It became a little confusing trying to even straighten out which films were first because the first three chronologically weren't made until after the middle three, and the last three were made thirty years after the original three which were the middle three. His head hurt just thinking about it.

 

But if the films were even remotely accurate about the Jedi, well... he'd never seen anything like it, and he thought he'd seen a lot. The abilities they possessed through this energy field were nothing short of astonished, and it made them very capable and very dangerous warriors when it came down to it.

 

“You are right, Captain.” Master Skywalker said from Archer's right.

 

Archer turned his head surprised. “Right about what?”

 

“Jedi are formidable warriors through the use of the Force.” The Jedi told him.

 

“You can read minds too?” The Captain asked.

 

“Not exactly, but your feelings are like an open book in the Force.” He told him.

 

“How long has the Jedi order existed?” Archer asked.

 

“It was originally formed around thirty-five thousand years ago, this was before the philosophical divergence grew between the Jedi and those that would become the Sith. Before Palpatine's Empire,” he neglected to add his grandfather's as well, “the Jedi order were the guardians of the Old Galactic Republic and had kept the peace for a thousand years. It was almost completely wiped out by the Empire until my father made it his life's work to rebuild it forty five years ago.”

 

“Can you really jump ten meters and cause things to fly through the air using the Force?” Archer asked, curious.

 

“The Force is a powerful ally. Grandmaster Yoda once demonstrated how powerful to my father by removing his X-Wing fighter from the swamp it had completely submerged in and causing it to rest on solid ground.” The Jedi said.

 

“Was he really less than a meter tall and eight hundred years old?” Archer asked.

 

Ben nodded. “Nine hundred when he became one with the Force. My father said that Grandmaster Yoda used that as a lesson to prove to him that size didn't matter where the Force was concerned. I have heard of powerful Jedi being able to use the Force to pull star destroyers from orbit and cause them to crash into planets. Never underestimate someone whose ally is the Force.”

 

“Wow.” Archer mouthed. “Can you do that?” He asked.

 

Ben looked at him curiously, then in all seriousness said, “I don't know. I've never tried.”

 

Time to check engineering again, thought Archer. He hit a comm button on his chair. “How's it going down there Trip? Are we in good enough shape to jump again in a couple of hours?”

 

“So far so good, Captain.” Tucker's voice came through the intercom. “The Hyperdrive's still purring like a kitten, and its generators are operating like clockwork. Truth is, if it weren't for the sensor problem, I'd say we could probably just turn them on and let them run all the way to Naboo or Coruscant or wherever else you wanted to go, except home of course.”

 

“I'll keep that in mind, Trip.” Archer said. No, not even the hyperdrive would take us home by itself, he thought. Not ninety billion light years and eight million years into the future. Not even the star destroyers could manage that.

 

“See you in the mess hall for the mandatory movie?” Trip asked.

 

“I'll see you there...” Archer began and then the alert klaxon went off as an explosion rocked the bridge.

 

“Sir,” Reed almost yelled, “We're under attack!”

 

“Polarize the hull plating! Charge the phase cannons!” Archer ordered.

 

* * *

 

The smaller ship took them by surprise as it attempted to sabotage their engines with the first salvo of turbolaser fire. It had come out of hyperspace almost right on top of them and opened up their cannons immediately. Their only saving grace in that instant was that the pirate gunners had never encountered a ship quite like the _Enterprise_ before and so had no idea in what part of the ship the engines were. The smaller, sleek craft flew straight past before it flipped around and came back for another shot.

 

“Try hailing them!” Archer ordered Hoshi.

 

“No response, Captain!” Hoshi shouted back.

 

“Sir, they're coming around for another pass!” Reed shouted out.

 

“Lock phase cannons, fire at will!” Archer ordered.

 

The space around and behind the _Enterprise_ lit up with bright red beams of highly charged and focused plasma which found their targets.

 

“Direct hit, sir. Minimal damage. They've got some kind of energy shielding.” Reed reported.

 

“Who the hell are they?” Archer asked out loud. “And why are they shooting at us?”

 

“They're pirates, Captain.” The Jedi Master informed him. “Likely the same ones which Captain Kelleon were supposed to be hunting.”

 

“Terrific. Can we reason with them?” The Captain asked.

 

“Not likely.” The Jedi replied.

 

“Load the torpedo tubes! Photonic torpedoes, maximum yield!” Archer ordered.

 

“Already done sir.” Reed responded. “Maximum yield, sir?”

 

“They shot at my ship!” Archer shouted back.

 

“Aye, sir.” Reed said with a grin. “Torpedoes locked.”

 

“Fire!” Archer shouted.

 

Two blue balls of seemingly white hot energy flew from the aft torpedo launchers driving for the smaller ship's hull. Two seconds later they made contact slamming into the pirate ship's shield with the force of a medium sized nuclear blast.

 

“Their shields are down.” Reed reported.

 

“Phase cannons. Target their engines and weapons. Fire at will.” Archer responded.

 

“Yes, sir. Firing.” Reed responded.

 

Two new explosions rocked the small ship from it's underside and it began to rotate off its axis out of control as gases vented from several hull fractures.

 

“Direct hits. Engines and weapons are disabled, they're venting atmosphere. Sir, I'm reading some kind of a building from their power systems. I think they've got about five minutes before they explode.” Reed reported.

 

“T'Pol, how many life signs aboard?” Archer asked.

 

“Ten, Captain.” T'Pol responded.

 

“There's nothing you can do for them, Captain. You don't have the time to dock with them, evacuate them and get clear.” Ben said.

 

“We don't need to dock with them.” Archer told him.

 

Ben raised his eyebrows in surprise.

 

“Someone get to the transporter. Get them out of there.” Archer then hit another button on his chair to bring up the comm system. “I want Doctor Phlox and a large security contingent of MACOs to the transporter pad immediately. I want the injured taken to sickbay, and those that are still on their feet to the brig.”

 

“Aye, Captain.” Came the voice of the MACO commander.

 

“Captain,” The _Enterprise's_ chief medical officer commed in. “I have Miss Silva Kai with me at present. Where do I send her?”

 

Archer looked at Ben questioningly. Ben nodded his head knowingly. Archer got the message.

 

“Take her too.” He said.

 

“Captain?” Phlox said.

 

“She can handle herself if it comes down to a fight Doctor, I'm pretty sure.” Archer responded

 

“Understood, Captain.” Phlox replied.

 

“Travis, as soon as they're aboard I want you to go to warp five along our previous heading. We don't need to go far, we just need to get clear of that blast.” Archer instructed him.

 

“Aye, sir.” His helmsman responded.

 

* * *

 

Two minutes later ten panic stricken aliens materialized on the transporter pad. Five of them were on their feet, five sitting on the pad barely able to move. “What?” One of those on their feet croaked. “What just happened?” The stench of alien urine filled the air.

 

In front of them stood equally as many well armed soldiers in gray camouflage and a young human female brandishing a lit lightsaber. To the side stood a being the Rhodian had never seen before carrying some kind of equipment.

 

Their eyes fell on the teenage girl in the tan and brown robes and their anxiety became magnified. “Jedi!” The Rhodians exclaimed. “We surrender!”

 

* * *

 

The voice of Doctor Phlox came through the comm system to the bridge. “We've got them Captain.”

 

“Get us out of here, Travis.” Archer told him.

 

The _Enterprise_ elongated strangely and then was instantly gone. No one was there to see the empty pirate ship explode into just another cloud of debris floating through space.

 

* * *

 

The _Enterprise_ remained at warp five for the next few hours. It wouldn't be anywhere near fast enough to get them to Naboo on time, but Archer wanted to put as much distance between them and where they were attacked as possible while still being able to see what was around them. He knew they would need to drop out of warp soon and resume making their hyperspace jumps towards Naboo in order to make their rendezvous, but he didn't want to be a sitting duck for pirates either.

 

The damage reports he got were minimal. Nothing critical had been hit, and what had would be easily reparable. He was thankful for at least that much. Four of the pirates had been taken to sickbay with critical injuries. One of them had died just after transport. So he had five sitting in his brig when he went to question them. He wasn't in the mood to be gentle. The Jedi Master had come with him.

 

“Who the hell are you and what were you thinking firing on us?!” Archer practically yelled at the beings in front of him. They weren't human, that was for certain, but a species he had never seen before.

 

“They're Rhodians, Captain.” Master Skywalker informed him.

 

“Rhodians.” The Captain repeated. “Is there anything else you can tell me?”

 

“Not much.” Ben said.

 

The Captain turned back to his captives. “Ok, your turn again. Who are you and why did you fire on my ship?”

 

The Rhodians in front of him were silent.

 

“Fine. You don't want to talk to me, that's just fine. We'll turn you over to the Alliance authorities when we reach Naboo. They can question you all they want.” Archer practically spat at them, disgusted. He then turned to leave.

 

“Wait!” One of the green skinned aliens called out.

 

Archer turned back around. “Yes?”

 

“You're the strangers here, yes?” The pirate asked.

 

“You could say that. Do you have a habit on welcoming strangers by shooting at them?” Archer asked.

 

“Our employer paid us to capture your ship. He didn't tell us how well armed you were.” The Rhodian said.

 

“Your employer?” Ben interjected. “Captain, I think they're bounty hunters. Lousy bounty hunters, perhaps, but bounty hunters nonetheless.”

 

The Rhodian hissed at him in offense.

 

“Bounty hunters?” Archer asked, surprised. “What did we do to deserve that? More to the point who else knows enough about us to send bounty hunters after us?”

 

“Who's your employer?” Archer questioned the impotent bounty hunter harshly.

 

“Drop us off on Naboo instead of turning us over to the Alliance, and I'll tell you.” The Rhodian tried to negotiate.

 

“Tell us, and I'll consider it.” Archer said.

 

The Rhodian seemed to think it over. His comrades in the cell with him remained silent, looking at each other. Finally he nodded in agreement. It was the best deal they were going to get.

 

“It was a human named Vengens. I never saw his face, he always kept it hidden behind a black cloak. He hired us on Tattooine a day ago.” The Rhodian said. “Your ship wasn't difficult to track after you left the Alliance star destroyer.”

 

Archer nodded and then looked at Ben.

 

“He's telling the truth, at least as far as he believes.” The Jedi said.

 

“Yes,” the Rhodian said. “Listen to the Jedi. I am telling you the truth.”

 

Archer considered this. “Ok, you have a deal. We'll let you go on Naboo.”

 

Archer left the brig and Ben followed.

 

“Are you really going to set these people loose on the people of Naboo? They're a peaceful world with few weapons.” Ben asked.

 

“I said I would set them free on Naboo. I didn't say where on Naboo.” Archer responded.

 

“Ah.” Ben replied. “Someplace away from all the more civilized people, then?”

 

“Someplace far away.” Archer agreed.

 

“Naboo is a big world.” Ben added.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

In Orbit Around Naboo

 

After remaining at warp five for three hours, the _Enterprise_ had to drop out of warp and continue it's hyperspace leap-frogging towards Naboo. As fast as they were traveling at warp speed, they had only covered a third of one percent of a light-year when they had another eight thousand light years to go. In order to minimize their down time, Archer revised their trip plans a little and recalculated their jumps for a thousand light years at a time. Master Skywalker didn't seem to have any trouble with adjusting his own Force senses to compensate. They arrived in orbit of Naboo around 0200 hours where Master Skywalker spoke with Naboo's orbital stations and flight controls to clear their presence in orbit.

 

True to his word, Captain Archer released his prisoners on Naboo. He transported the healthier Rhodians down to the surface in a nice grassy field on the opposite side of the planet, away from any populated areas. He hoped they would then spend the time they spent trying to reach the nearest city contemplating their occupational choices. Doctor Phlox however wouldn't sanction the same treatment for the injured prisoners, so the Captain and the Jedi Master worked it out to transfer them to medical facilities on the planet under the supervision of Naboo authorities.

 

After that, they actually had time to spare. The _Protector_ wouldn't be in orbit for another two days. Archer considered the possibility of a short shore leave for his crew, but after almost a day and a half without sleep, he decided to leave that decision until the next day, and went to bed after 0330. The rest of the bridge crew followed suit as the night relief crew took over.

 

Unseen, a different kind of being wandered the ship's corridors watching and thinking, it's feelings mixed and cautious. It was those feelings which found themselves being broadcast through the Force to a young Jedi Padawan who was just on the verge of waking from too short a night's sleep after too long a day.

 

Silva Kai sat upright in her bed, eyes wide open. “Who are you?” She said out loud.

 

On the bunk below her, her master rested peacefully, apparently oblivious that anything had transpired. Quiet, short snores came lazily up through the room to her ears. Otherwise there was no movement in the room.

 

Silva tried to calm her mind and touch the Force, drawing peace and serenity from it. She closed her eyes and stretched out her feelings looking inward and listening for the still small and quiet voice of the midichlorian microbes within her cells which joined her and all life to the ever present Force.

 

She pushed her awareness out as far as she could. She could feel her Master's presence below her, and the negative feelings coming from the nightmare he was having. That wasn't unusual. She had grown accustomed to her Master's nightmares, but she had never questioned him on what they were about. She pushed her senses out farther.

 

There were other crew members around her. Other humans asleep in their own bunks, many too exhausted to dream. She concentrated and pushed even further into the surrounding corridors and there... there was “someone”. Not human. Not like any being she had ever encountered. Not even like Commander T'Pol who was similar to human beings and yet very different. She probed. This person didn't want to be seen, and...

 

“You can see me?” The voice came through clear as a bell in her mind and her eyes flew open, her hand instinctively reaching for her lightsaber as it flew into it and ignited with a snap-hiss. She fully expected there to be someone in the room with them as she leaped onto the floor with the grace and fluidity of a dancer and stood waiting, her senses extended.

 

But there was no one there. There was no one in the room. She kept her eyes closed, all of her senses in tune with the living Force and everything around her. But she didn't hear the voice again. She searched the corridors through the Force as far as she could, but couldn't find the presence again. She just wasn't proficient enough yet to be able to extend her awareness throughout a space as big as the entire ship. But she did know one thing, she hadn't imagined it.

 

“Silva, what's wrong?” Her master was sitting up on his bunk, eyes alert, lightsaber in hand but unlit, his voice full of concern. He had sensed the alarm radiating off of her and it had pulled him out of his troubled sleep.

 

“We're not alone, Master. There's someone else on board this ship.” Silva replied with a grave seriousness.

 

“Silva, there are eighty three other people on board this ship.” Her master replied, “Are you certain you didn't feel something from one of them?”

 

“I'm very certain Master. I touched a presence through the Force in the ship's corridors nearby. This one didn't want to be found.” Silva replied.

 

* * *

 

“She's certain?” Archer asked. Before they had flung across the universe, he would have had serious questions about raising the alarm of an invisible intruder on board based on a fourteen year old girl's intuition. But all the rules for this time and place had changed, and he couldn't take anything for granted anymore.

 

“I'm quite certain, Captain.” Silva said, a little offended that he hadn't addressed her directly. She was perfectly capable of explaining it herself. “There is a presence on board this ship that doesn't want to be seen by anyone.”

 

“And you felt this through the Force?” Archer asked again, a little dubiously.

 

“Should I remind you Captain,” her master added, “that you have been relying on my ability to sense obstacles in space from much greater distances than just in the corridor to keep from colliding with anything on our way here? This is much, much easier. If Silva says she felt someone was there, then I have little doubt that they were. You have an intruder on board.”

 

Damn, he's right. Archer thought. “Alright, so then how do we track him, it, whatever it is?”

 

“I don't know. I've tried to reach out to find him again, and haven't been able to. Neither has Silva. But I have known Jedi with the ability to hide themselves in the Force. I was taught to do it myself. We will have to wait until he or it drops his guard again.” Ben told him.

 

“Great. So much for the short shore leave I had been planning.” Archer said.

 

“That may be for the best, Captain. It might be better for you and your crew to spend the next couple of days familiarizing yourselves with our galactic culture as much as possible. In the meantime, Silva and I will keep searching for your uninvited guest.” Ben told him.

 

“You're probably right. This is still a first contact situation, and we've been in enough of those to know how wrong they can go.” He said, remembering some of those times. This was a bad place to be making those same kinds of freshman mistakes. “And, if and when we're able to get home, it's not like we can maintain contact with your people.”

 

“All too true, Captain.” Ben replied.

 

“Okay, we get some rest, take the next couple of days easy and study up as much as we can. I hope you'll be a gentle instructor, Master Skywalker.” Archer told him.

 

Silva then cleared her throat.

 

“I hope you'll both go easy on us.” Archer said.

 

* * *

 

That was way too close, the presence thought. How did the girl see him? In all the time since he'd existed on this plane, in every time for that matter, no one on the temporal planes of existence could see him when he didn't want to be seen. The only ones who could were the “others” like himself, but he hadn't sensed their presence at all since he had been thrown here with this ship and its crew.

 

He knew where they were, and when. He had learned those things when the rest of the crew did, and the connection with the science fiction movies of his youth threw him as much as anyone else. The Jedi were real? After everything he had experienced he didn't think he could be surprised anymore. He was wrong.

 

More than this though, he knew why they had ended up where they were. He had seen the black hole in their path but was powerless to prevent it by the Others from his own time and galaxy. They would have punished him again for interfering, something which he had given his word he wouldn't do this time. So he went with them, riding the black hole's gravity through time and space.

 

He knew now, after watching their conversation, that the Jedi could detect him through the Force if he wasn't more careful. He couldn't allow that. Not yet. Not until he had all the pieces in place. It was, indirectly, his fault they had all been stranded in the first place. He had to find a way to get them home again.

 

* * *

 

After spending time watching and discussing the “movies”, as these people from Earth called them, with the ship's crew Ben and Silva both retired to their quarters to meditate and rest.

 

“What do you sense about these people, Padawan?” Ben asked his apprentice.

 

Silva looked thoughtful for a minute and then said. “They are sincere. I spent time with their medical officer, Doctor Phlox. He's the only other non-human member of the crew on board. He seemed very interested in anything I could tell him about the animal life I'd encountered.” She told him. “He told me many stories of their time exploring the small part of their own galaxy together.”

 

“Yes,” Ben said. “The Captain did mention that this was, first and foremost, an exploration vessel.”

 

“They rescued the pirates who tried to disable their ship.” Silva added.

 

“And what does that tell you about them?” Ben asked.

 

“That they place a high value on compassion, Master.” Silva responded.

 

“Very good, my apprentice.” Ben was pleased. He knew of many Padawans, and a few Knights, who wouldn't have understood why the _Enterprise_ hadn't just finished them off. Why they had taken the risk to bring them on board. “This is something we ourselves should keep in mind and learn from. There are times when a Jedi is tempted to take the easy way out and end a life rather than try to rescue and redeem it. Sometimes it is necessary, but there are many more times when the will of the Force is to take the harder path of redemption. My father understood this better than most. It caused a lot of pain at times, but in the end he was proven right more often than not.”

 

They had just watched the sixth of the movies with the captain and crew, and Ben watched the actor portraying his father reach out to the actor portraying his grandfather in desperation. It was almost exactly as his father had described it to him. “It was because of my father's compassion for his father that my grandfather was redeemed in the end. Grandmaster Luke didn't defeat the Sith with a lightsaber stroke or by taking their heads off, but he did it by throwing his lightsaber away and reaching out to touch and reignite a father's love for his son.” Ben added.

 

“Yes, Master.” Silva responded. She then asked a question, one which had been on her mind for a while. “Master, why did you choose me?”

 

“What do you mean?” Ben asked, although he knew perfectly well what she was asking.

 

“I'm not very strong with the Force. There were others in my class who were far better in lightsaber training. You could have had an apprentice more... well... more worthy of you.” Silva said. Her cheeks flushed a little in embarrassment.

 

“Be careful not to place anyone on a pedestal, young one.” Ben said. “I have made more than my share of mistakes in my life. I was also one of those my father saved from the temptations of the dark side.”

 

“I'm sorry, Master.” She said, feeling chastised.

 

“If anything, I hope to prove worthy of you as your teacher. The master can often learn as much from his or her apprentice as the apprentice does from the master.” Ben continued.

 

“Yes, Master.” Silva said, feeling a little better.

 

He then paused a minute, and added, “And I chose you because I could sense your great capacity for compassion and understanding of people. As I said, it can be a rare and precious quality, and one which should be encouraged and cultivated. I also chose you for your spirit. You reminded me of someone very special to me. Someone who passed into the Force a long time ago.”

 

“May I ask who, Master?” She asked.

 

“My mother.” He told her. “Master Mara Jade Skywalker.”

 

“Thank you, Master. I will do everything I can to live up to her.” She said in a determined way.

 

“No, young one.” Ben told her gently. “Live up to who the Force will shape you to be. This is the best tribute you can give.”

 

“Yes, Master.” She said, a newer and richer respect for her Master developing within her.

 

Continuing their previous line of discussion, he asked, “Did you sense anything from any of the bridge crew? Anything in the Force?”

 

She thought about it again. What was he asking for? She was quiet for a while, and then she thought she knew. “Their helmsman. He's Force sensitive, isn't he?”

 

“So, you could feel it, too?” He asked.

 

“He's too old, isn't he?” She didn't know where he would go with this.

 

“My father wouldn't have thought so. His first apprentices were all around the lieutenant's age, a few of them older.” He said. It was true, the average age of the first Jedi academy's class was in their late twenties. “My father himself wasn't much younger either.”

 

“Still, they're trying to get home to a different time and place...” Silva said.

 

“But if he is Force sensitive, it means that the midichlorians aren't confined to our galaxy, and so neither is the living Force.” Ben said.

 

“You would have to get a blood sample to check.” Silva said. “Their equipment may not be able to detect them.”

 

“Still, I feel it's important to try.” It was the will of the Force, Ben knew. It was compelling him. “Where the Force leads us, we follow.

 

“Yes, Master.” Silva responded.

 

* * *

 

“I've run thousands of scans of human tissues, and I've never seen these kinds of microbes you're describing.” Dr. Phlox told him. “I'm not willing to rule them out, but our equipment just isn't equipped to test for them.”

 

Ben had approached the doctor discreetly to inquire about the ability of the _Enterprise_ 's medical quarters to test for midichlorians. The Denobulan doctor had of course never heard of them.

 

“Would it be possible for me to visit the capital city to acquire a scanner?” Ben asked.

 

“You'd have to take that up with Captain Archer.” Phlox told him. “And it was you and the young lady who suggested we all remain on board for the time being.”

 

There was a slight amount of hostility coming from the normally jovial doctor, and Ben couldn't place it. “Have I done something to offend you, doctor?”

 

Phlox was taken aback a bit. “I'm sorry?”

 

“I can feel a small amount of hostility rolling off of you. I just want to know what I did to deserve it.” Ben said.

 

Phlox stopped for a minute and thought. “Yes, I suppose I am being a little more adversarial than is called for. I'm sorry.”

 

“Not a problem.” Ben said.

 

“The charming young girl who spent so much time with me the other day. You took her from her parents when she was only a year old? And you then train her and the other children like her to be warriors and assassins?” Phlox said, a little bit of outrage creeping into his voice. “I usually pride myself on being willing to experience and share new cultures and ideas as objectively as I can, but this... This seems a little beyond me.”

 

What had Silva told him? Ben wondered. He would have to have another talk with her about discretion and the way she explained things to people. “No, that's not quite what happens.” Ben said.

 

“Oh. So then what does happen?” Phlox asked.

 

“It is true, when Force sensitive children are identified we encourage their parents to give them over to our care and training, but we don't force them to. The Jedi are, first and foremost, a religious order you might say, dedicated to the study, use, and will of the Force. We are taught to use the Force for defense, and never for aggression or attack. We are trained as diplomats, as well as in the Jedi martial arts. We bring the children we can as young as we can to the temple to be raised and trained to deal with the aggressive feelings and emotions which could lead to their being consumed by the dark side.” He then brought up their recent movie marathon. “You watched what happened to my grandfather when fear and anger overtook him. The whole galaxy suffered as a result. We teach our young ones to deal with their fear and pain to minimize the possibility of that happening.”

 

Phlox thought about that. “Yes. I suppose it is better than having another 'Sith Lord' running loose and unchecked.”

 

“Indeed.” Ben said.

 

Phlox was silent for a minute. “I'm sorry. More than anyone else, I should know better than to judge the culture of another people, especially one as well intentioned as the Jedi seem to be.”

 

Ben appreciated that. There were many people throughout the Alliance who tended to question the intentions of the Jedi on far too frequent of a basis. It was just nice having someone on their side.

 

Returning to his previous subject, he asked, “How deep can you scan living tissues?”

 

“Down to the subatomic level if need be.” Phlox responded.

 

“Perhaps then, it's just a matter of telling your computer what to look for.” Ben said. The subatomic level was more than enough resolution to see and get a count of the midichlorians.

 

“Perhaps.” Phlox agreed. “Maybe Commander Tucker will be willing to make the adjustments with your help.” He then inquired, “Why do you want our equipment to be able to test for them? Is there a Jedi to be somewhere among the crew?”

 

“I'm not yet sure. I can't be certain without a blood test.” Ben responded.

 

It turned out that fine-tuning the scanners to check for the midichlorians wasn't that difficult. Commander Tucker had come up to Sickbay and, after doing a bit of a double-take with the request worked with the Jedi Master to bring their scanners up to speed.

 

After wondering aloud how they had missed the microbes for so long, the doctor then took small blood samples from Ben, Tucker, and himself to test the machine's new ability.

 

“A count of twenty-five hundred microbes per cell is considered the threshold for Force sensitivity,” Ben told the doctor.

 

“Well, then Commander Tucker, you'll be happy to know that your midichlorian count is around twenty-six hundred or so.” Phlox gave the report. “Master Skywalker, yours is... oh my... fifteen thousand per cell.”

 

That was information Ben already knew. His grandfather had been conceived by the midichlorians and had a concentration of twenty-thousand.

 

“And mine is, oh, well now there's a surprise, twenty five hundred.” Phlox said. “I suppose Commander Tucker and I should be watching our tempers more often.”

 

They all chuckled. “I wouldn't worry too much about that. We tend to not encourage anyone to seek admission to the Order with a count of less than thirty-five hundred. That's about the level where a person begins to experience the fuller range of Force abilities.”

 

“So, who would you like to test next?” Phlox asked.

 

Ben was silent for a minute. Then asked Commander Tucker, “If you don't mind, I think this needs to be between the doctor and myself for the moment.”

 

“Confidentiality. I get it.” Tucker said. “I'll be back in engineering. Just give me a holler if you need anything.”

 

“Thank you again.” Ben said.

 

Once he had left and it was just the two of them in sickbay, Ben turned to the doctor and said, “Actually, I would like to test Lieutenant Mayweather's cells. Discreetly if possible.”

 

“I can do it, but I'll need his permission first.” Phlox said. “Do you really believe the Lieutenant to have a high enough count to take notice?”

 

“As I said, I'm not certain, but there is a gathering of the Force around him.” Ben said. “Both Silva and I have felt it.”

 

“He's always been an extraordinary pilot.” Phlox said, thinking. “I suppose it would be better if he knew one way or the other, given the consequences.” He paused again, and then agreed. “I'll call him down as discreetly as I can.”

 

Travis had been in the Mess Hall finishing up his lunch and had been about to return to duty when he got the call from Phlox to report to sickbay for a “routine blood test.”

 

“Yeah, doc?” He said as he walked in. “Is there something wrong? I thought I just had a physical last month.”

 

“No, there's nothing wrong, Travis. There's just a certain question that Master Skywalker would like resolved.” Phlox said, motioning to the brown robed figure in the corner of the room.

 

“Oh. OK... And what does my blood have to do with anything?” Travis asked.

 

“We'd just like to test for a certain 'infection' you might say.” Ben told him.

 

“Is it dangerous?” Travis asked, worried.

 

“Not necessarily, with the right treatments not at all.” Ben responded.

 

Phlox stayed silent. He would have liked to have been a little more forthright, but he supposed that it was as close to informed consent as was appropriate in this case, and the Jedi hadn't actually lied. It just depended on a certain point of view.

 

“OK, sure I guess. It won't take long will it? I've got to get back to the bridge.” Travis asked.

 

“Not long at all.” Phlox said as he drew the blood from his neck quickly. He took the sample to the scanner and ran it through as the computer got an approximate count.

 

“So, am I clean, doc?” Travis asked.

 

Phlox was silent as he looked at the count in from of him.

 

“Master Jedi, perhaps you should come over here and tell me what this means.” Phlox called Ben over to the scanner to converse in a whisper. The Jedi moved swiftly to see for himself.

 

“What's wrong? It's not bad is it?” Travis asked.

 

Ben saw the count with his own eyes, and he knew the machine was calibrated accurately. He then turned to the Lieutenant. “When you pilot this ship, do you often feel like you can see things before they happen?” He asked him.

 

“I don't know. Sometimes maybe. What's this all about?” He was getting worried.

 

Ben looked back at the machine and the midichlorian count which came up. There was no doubt in his mind now.

 

“Lieutenant, you have a midichlorian count of around ten thousand.” Ben told him.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

In Orbit around Naboo

 

“I'm concerned about this 'Vengens' person.” Archer said to T'Pol. They and Reed were alone in the ship's unofficial “war room.” “How the hell did he, or anyone for that matter know who we were in that short of an amount of time, and why did he send bounty hunters after us? What could we have possibly done to make someone angry within minutes of arriving here? All we did was get lost.”

 

“I agree Captain, there's no logic to why we were attacked if they sought to capture this ship personally. The _Enterprise_ is clearly far more primitive than the vessels we've seen so far. As to how they knew we were here, the logical solution is that someone on board the star destroyer we first encountered must have informed their employer.” T'Pol answered.

 

“Or, their employer was somewhere on their ship and had access to information about us.” Archer continued her line of reasoning.

 

“Someone on their bridge, then?” T'Pol added. “Perhaps they scanned us and found something which they considered worth the risk to try and capture us. But what technology could we possibly possess that they wouldn't have developed?”

 

Archer thought for a minute, then said, “The Jedi seemed surprised by the transporters. He didn't say anything about it, but I could see it in his expression. Do you think it's possible they don't have anything like them?”

 

She thought about that, then said, “It wasn't long ago that I refused to accept the possibility of time travel, or the ability to transfer a katra from one mind to another. I was proven wrong on both counts. So I will leave open the possibility that for all their technological and...” she groped for the right word, “'spiritual' abilities, they seem to curiously lack this one. This could give us a significant advantage which people of this time and place don't possess.”

 

“Recommendations?” Archer asked the both of them.

 

“I'm not sure.” Reed said. “I would suggest trying to be as discreet as possible with the transporter from here on in. If it's our only advantage then I would prefer to keep it in reserve.”

 

“Agreed.” Archer said. “Anything else?”

 

“Not without more data.” T'Pol said.

 

“The _Protector_ is slated to arrive tomorrow sometime and remain in orbit for a couple of days before returning to Coruscant. We'll have to continue being cautious at least until then.” Archer said.

 

“What about the 'invisible intruder' the Jedi apprentice sensed?” T'Pol asked.

 

“'invisible intruder'? Captain, please.” Reed said.

 

“We're taking it seriously, Malcolm. Those two have been right in every situation so far.” Archer said.

 

“Yes, sir.” Reed said, a little irritated. “It's just that I have nothing to do about it but wait for a teenage girl to tell me when she spots it again, whatever it is.”

 

“Patience, Malcolm. From what I'm told, that teenage girl was being trained to do this kind of thing from the time she could walk.”

 

“Right, sir.” Reed said, unconvinced.

 

* * *

 

Lieutenant Mayweather returned to the bridge shaken and distracted from what he'd been told. He had no idea what to make of it. He knew he'd always been good at the controls of a ship, but that didn't make him in tune with the energy of the universe in some kind of a special way did it? What did he do now? He felt himself fortunate that all he had to do for the moment was keep the ship in standard orbit around a planet. That was easy. The _Enterprise_ did all the work.

 

“Everything OK, Travis?” Hoshi asked from her comm station.

 

“Yeah, I guess so.” He said unconvincingly. Trying to change the subject, he asked her, “Hearing anything interesting lately? Does Naboo have public broadcasts?”

 

“Actually, there's quite a bit of traffic,” she said. “There's the normal flight traffic, news broadcasts, entertainment broadcasts. Most of it's in what Silva called Galactic Standard, but there are transmissions in hundreds of other languages we've been picking up. I've been recording a lot of it to analyze later without the universal translator.” She really looked like she was looking forward to parsing verbs and breaking down sentence structures in her spare time.

 

“Sounds like fun.” Travis said.

 

“Yep.” Hoshi said enthusiastically.

 

Travis turned back to his helm controls and stared at the orbital view of the world below him. Could I really have the potential to be a Jedi? He wondered. What would it be like? Master Skywalker had tried to ease his mind a bit, saying it was his choice if he wanted to pursue it or not. But if he did it meant coming to the temple on Coruscant and taking the time to study and meditate. He didn't know if he could stay put for that. More to the point he didn't know if he wanted to. He was a pilot, and he was happy to just be the best pilot out there if he could. And what about his commitment to the _Enterprise_ and her crew? He couldn't just abandon them to go commune with the universe. That was ridiculous.

 

He watched the green and blue globe spin underneath him. A galaxy away or not, it wasn't that different from Earth, he thought, but then most inhabited worlds seemed to resemble his homeworld in one way or another. Just for a minute though, he could forget what he was just told and pretend that they were back home waiting to receive orders to go on another mission. You know, something normal.

 

What he really needed was someone he could talk to about it. Someone who understood more esoteric or spiritual matters a little better than he did. He didn't know the Jedi well enough to feel comfortable talking to them, although he didn't sense anything bad from them... There's that thing, I don't “sense” anything bad from them. Is that me using the Force, or is it just intuition? He wondered. Was there even a difference? From watching the movies it didn't sound like it, but he wondered how much the movies got it right. “Now that I know, it's going to drive me nuts until I figure it out, isn't it?” He muttered to himself.

 

“Did you say something, Travis?” Hoshi asked.

 

“Never mind.” He said. “Nothing important.”

 

So who could he go and talk to? The only other person on board who meditated that he knew of was Commander T'Pol. He knew just as much about Vulcan meditation as he did Jedi meditation, but it was someplace to start anyway. Maybe she'd be willing to help him figure out what to do.

 

He resolved to ask her after his shift ended.

 

* * *

 

The small shimmering image of Jedi Master Jaina Solo appeared in front of Ben as it hovered over the emitters coming from the holocommunications device. He was in his and Silva's quarters. Silva stood nearby as he finished making his report about the stranded vessel.

 

“And do you believe that the answers to returning them to their own space and time can really be found in our archives?” Master Solo asked.

 

“It's the only place I can think of to start with.” Ben responded. “I thought we could assist them at least with some of the research and reassess the situation as it comes.”

 

“Of course. I sense that it would be in everyone's best interests to return them home as soon as possible.” Master Solo agreed with him. “What about the employer of the bounty hunters?”

 

“They said it was a man named Vengens.” Ben replied. “I sense something dark in the Force about that name. I don't believe they or we have heard the last of him.”

 

“I agree. Stay alert. Bring them to the temple and we will assist in whatever way we can.” Jaina said.

 

“There is one more item of business.” Ben said. “There is a vergence in the Force.”

 

“Around a person?” Jaina asked.

 

“It centers around one of their crew members. Their pilot. I analyzed his blood.” Ben said.

 

“And?” She asked.

 

“His midichlorian count is almost as high as ours.” Ben replied.

 

“I see.” Master Solo said. “And has he made any request of being trained or educated in the Jedi arts?” She asked.

 

“Not yet, and I sense discomfort from him at the idea of his Force sensitivity. I would like to proceed cautiously, but I feel that it's important to pursue this with him, for their sakes as well as his own.” Ben said.

 

“Ask if he would be willing to be examined by the Jedi Council while his crew mates are doing their research. If we feel he is able to handle it, we may be able to work something out.” Master Solo said, she then added, “Uncle Luke only had a few weeks at most of formal training from Yoda. The rest of it he had to pursue and study on his own. Perhaps this person won't need everything we could teach him, but just enough of the basics to continue to learn and grow safely without our constant attention.”

 

“This was my feeling as well.” Ben responded. “I'd hate to see all of that potential go to waste.”

 

“Are you saying being a pilot is a waste?” Jaina asked, a little playfulness creeping into her voice. “Well...” He chose to bite his words back. His cousin had been a pilot like her father for decades as well as a Jedi. Their family tended to be multi-talented on many levels.“We'll have to talk about that later.” He said.

 

“I see. We certainly will. Continue to observe and give guidance as you need to. We should be seeing you in a few days.” She said. “May the Force be with you.”

 

“And also with you, Master.” Ben responded, and then stopped the holocommunicator.

 

“Wouldn't it be better for him if he were to stay at the temple academy as a Padawan, Master?” Silva asked.

 

“Not necessarily, Silva.” Ben responded. “If he had been identified when he was much younger then yes, that would have been ideal. But he has duties and responsibilities to this ship and to his own people, and so our task is to find a way to help him realize his potential in the Force in a way that will be a benefit to him and them, and not a hindrance. It may not take much formal training to do this.”

 

Silva looked thoughtful for a minute or two. “Did Grandmaster Skywalker really only have a few weeks of training under Grandmaster Yoda? And that was enough?”

 

Ben looked at her, and then said honestly, “Yes, he did. And no, probably not. He would have been the first to admit it. He always felt like there was always more he needed to learn about the Force, and there always seemed to be. But his situation was anything but normal. Obi-Wan Kenobi would have begun his training at a much younger, more appropriate age but my father's aunt and uncle wouldn't let Obi-Wan have anything to do with him. They were afraid of my father joining Darth Vader and the Emperor. As a result, he made many, many mistakes in his journey to rebuilding the order. Some of them were very costly. These are the mistakes we try and teach you and other young ones to avoid as much as possible.” Ben thought about the mistakes his father had made, and the many that he himself had made. Yes, we all make them, don't we Dad?

 

Ben felt a slight touch of warmth through the Force, and then it was gone. Silva felt it too, but it passed quickly and she didn't mention it.

 

“I understand. Thank you, Master for explaining these things to me.” Silva said.

 

“Thank you for being such a patient listener, young one.” Ben replied.

 

* * *

 

After the end of his duty shift, Travis sought out Commander T'Pol. He found her in the mess hall quietly sipping mint tea and reading something on a tablet pad.

 

“Are you busy, Commander?” Travis asked.

 

T'Pol looked up from the screen and looked at him, setting down her cup of tea. His face had lost some of the good humored casualness with which he was normally possessed. Something was obviously bothering him. She had learned long ago that his question was really whether or not this was a good time for him to speak to her. She had indeed been absorbed in her reading material as she was reviewing yet again her copy of the Vulcan Kir Shara, meditating on the words of Surak, the ancient Vulcan philosopher that had guided her people for many, many centuries.

 

“Please, take a seat, Lieutenant.” She offered, gesturing to the other chair at the table.

 

“Thank you.” He said with obvious relief, and then took the chair and sat down.

 

“How can I help you, Lieutenant?” She asked him.

 

“I'm not sure where to begin. I know you meditate in your quarters and I thought out of anyone on board the ship you might have some good advice on spiritual things.” Travis started.

 

“Perhaps Doctor Phlox might be of more service to you. He's made a far greater study of spiritual beliefs and practices than I have. Vulcan meditation is for calming the mind and controlling the emotions.” T'Pol said.

 

“Phlox already knows about this, and I need someone more objective right now.” Travis said.

 

“What is the problem, Lieutenant? While I would always encourage others to explore and practice meditation for its own benefits, this sudden interest doesn't appear to be logical. Why do you think my experience with meditation might be of some help?” T'Pol asked.

 

“Ok. Here it goes.” Travis began. “I just got a blood test from Phlox and the Jedi Master. They're saying I've got a really high count of those microbes that allow someone to be a Jedi. Master Skywalker is saying that I've got real potential as a Force sensitive.”

 

“And this disturbs you?” T'Pol asked.

 

“Well, yeah. He was saying it was my choice, but that it would be good for me to go to their temple and be trained to use the Force.” Travis explained.

 

“And it's the meditation that concerns you?” T'Pol inquired. “You have a commitment to Starfleet and to this ship. Furthermore you aren't even from this time period much less this region of space. Logically, the idea of you remaining behind to train for the rest of your life as a Jedi peacekeeper is impossible at this juncture, if ever.”

 

“I know!” Travis exclaimed. “But then I keep thinking, well what if I learned just a little bit, like what Master Skywalker does to help us see our way through hyperspace? Wouldn't that help us out? Couldn't it help me to be a better pilot?”

 

“So, you want to know if Vulcan meditation could help you discover this ability?” T'Pol asked.

 

“I don't know, I guess. If nothing else, I figure it might put me on the right path.” Travis told her.

 

“As I understand it, Jedi Master Skywalker was born into a family of Force users and was taught to use it from a very young age. He has spent decades learning and refining his abilities and senses under many different situations. I would say that the likelihood of you reaching that level of ability on your own without an instructor is very slim.” T'Pol told him.

 

“You're probably right.” He looked a little downcast after that.

 

Seeing it, she then said, “However, I don't have any more information on these matters than you do, so my logic may not be complete. It would seem to me that the person you really need to be addressing these questions to is Master Skywalker, and I would also inform Captain Archer as well.” Humans could be quite logical when they wanted to be, but if they received an answer they didn't like, however logical, they could become quite bitter or resentful. This in itself was unproductive and would begin to ruin the Lieutenant's efficiency at his job through his being distracted. She decided he needed more than just her input in order to really be satisfied with an answer.

 

“Thanks, Commander. I'll do that.” He perked up, and went to go find their guests.

 

T'Pol went back to sipping her tea and reading Surak's words.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Within the Alliance Star Destroyer _Protector_

 

The unseen presence wandered the halls and corridors of the Star Destroyer in which the NX-01 now found itself. He had questions which needed to be answered. He felt it was his responsibility to see them home safely, and the more he wandered in this region of space, the more he realized that if there were others like himself here, then they had absolutely no interest in him or no intention of interfering with his attempts to interfere. He counted this as a plus. He still didn't want to reveal himself to the poor stranded crew yet, but he felt a little more relaxed as long as he watched himself with the Jedi.

 

He watched the black and gray uniformed officers and troopers as they made their rounds and went about their tasks on board. There were a lot of them. Most of them seemed board with their jobs. This particular ship had been relegated to running military cargo, something which most of the crew felt was beneath the vessel's dignity. He could feel tens of thousands of them, their living energy like beacons shining all around him, but there was one whose energy felt just a little different. He followed this one all the way from his quarters to the bridge where he went on duty as a comm officer.

 

Why did he feel different? He felt... darker than the others, like something else had a hold of him and was playing him like a puppet of sorts. He watched and listened as the officer looked over his status screens and control station.

 

Nearby, the captain of the _Protector_ spoke with his executive officer and both he and the comm officer could hear them clearly, “...it's a Jedi request and a favor to Captain Kelleon over on the _Skywalker_.” The Captain said. “Some ship with out of date engines and no proper sensors to speak of. We're ferrying them back to Coruscant in our hold.”

 

“What's the name of the ship? Where're they from?” The X-O asked.

 

“ _Enterprise_. We're not entirely sure, some backwater planet no one's ever heard of called Earth.” The Captain told him.

 

The comm officer the presence was observing then discreetly hit a few buttons on his panel and typed out a short text based message and hit send. The presence couldn't have read the text language when he had been human, but he didn't need to now. He knew what the officer's intentions were. He could feel them. He was telling someone on Coruscant that the _Enterprise_ and her crew were on their way, and he didn't want anyone else knowing about it.

 

He decided to return to wandering the _Enterprise_. Someone was on the receiving end of that message. Someone dark. Someone he might need to break the rules with in order to keep them from hurting Archer and his crew. He was suddenly very glad there were no others around to stop him.

 

The Captain and his X-O continued their conversation in the background as he moved off. “Have you met any of them yet?” The X-O asked.

 

“No, but I had considered inviting their captain and his first officer for dinner this evening. It might be interesting to trade some space faring stories.” The Captain told him.

 

“What about the Jedi? I heard there was a Master and his Padawan aboard.” The X-O said.

 

“Well, they can come along as well! Jedi have some of the best stories to tell. It should be an entertaining evening!” The captain said.

 

* * *

 

The evening went almost as well as the captain had hoped, although Jedi Master Skywalker wasn't much of a storyteller, Captain Archer spent time regaling him with his various adventures and misadventures at first contact. The _Protector's_ captain hadn't enjoyed himself like that in some time, and even his X-O snickered and chortled at some of the situations Archer and his crew had found themselves in. Archer's first officer, T'Pol maintained a cool reserve all evening and seemed very difficult to get to know. Ah well, he thought. You can't please everyone.

 

“So Captain, what do our Jedi friends have in mind for you once we drop you off?” The _Protector's_ Captain Dohai asked in good humor as he poured himself a glass of greenish liquor.

 

“Research, trying to figure out how we ended up here, and how to get back.” Archer answered.

 

“You have to admit, this must be a great opportunity for you as explorers to be thrust into a region of space you've never been in before like this.” Dohai said.

 

“Yes, yes it is.” Archer and his companions had neglected to mention how far they were from home. “Our computers are going to be full of new data when we get back.”

 

“Have you ever been to Coruscant, Captain?” The X-O asked.

 

“No, I haven't. What's it like?” Archer asked as he cut into a nerf steak and sampled it. Not quite like beef, but close enough he decided. Next to him, T'Pol was sampling a plate of fruits and vegetables lightly seasoned.

 

“The entire planet is covered in city. It's nothing but spacescrapers and permacrete from the troposphere down into the crust. The most populated planet in the entire galaxy.” Captain Dohai told them.

 

“I find that hard to believe.” T'Pol said. “How do they maintain their atmosphere and weather without vegetation or bodies of water?”

 

“Ah, a good question.” The captain responded. “There are huge atmosphere generators situated throughout the planet where the air is constantly renewed and replenished.”

 

“You would think that would be a huge catastrophe waiting to happen if there was a planet-wide power outage.” T'Pol observed. “Or a significant tactical weakness for an enemy to exploit.”

 

“You know, I've never thought of that, but it's never happened in all the thousands of years of history that I know of.” Dohai said, though the thought had sobered him up just a little more.

 

“It happened once.” Silva spoke up. She had wanted to join the conversation for some time but hadn't seen an appropriate time to do so before now.

 

“Did it now young Jedi?” The X-O asked.

 

“It was a long time ago, long before the Empire. It only lasted for a few hours before the power was restored. The generators draw their power geothermally from the planet's molten core to ensure it never happens again.” Silva explained. “It isn't a part of the public historical record, but the event was recorded in the temple archives. A Sith called Darth Vanit had tried to kill everyone on Coruscant before he was stopped by Jedi Master Galen Dax.” She then added by way of explanation, “I had to write a report on it once for my history instructor.”

 

There was an awkward silence around the dining table for a few minutes after that, nobody really knowing what to say.

 

“What purpose would committing the total genocide of a planet serve anyone?” T'Pol asked. “There is no logic to it.”

 

“There is little logic to the dark side of the Force, Commander.” Ben said. “I once knew a powerful Jedi. A good man who had been given all the benefit of breeding and Jedi training. No one would have suspected that he could have ever fallen prey to the temptations the dark side offered.” Ben told them. The memory was still painful for him, even after eighteen years. “He was my own master for a time before I was shown what he had really become. I held him up so highly I was drawn into his delusions until at the age of fourteen I became an assassin for him, still not seeing what he was becoming and what he was trying to make me become. The irony of it was that the dark side twisted his selfless desire for peace and order in the galaxy into something perverted and evil. He became convinced that the atrocities he committed were in service to the greater good. If we, our family, hadn't been in such denial about what was happening to him we might have caught him before he got as bad as he did. We certainly had another Darth Vader and nearly another Emperor before it came to an end all because he wanted an end to war and corruption in the galaxy so bad he was willing to go down the path of the dark side to get it.”

 

“Colonel Solo.” Dohai whispered. “I remember that time.” The dinner mood had turned more somber than he had really hoped for. “There are few in the service who don't.”

 

Ben nodded in acknowledgment.

 

“The dark side sounds like a real trap for the Jedi then.” Archer observed. “I have to wonder then if being sensitive to the Force is really a blessing or a curse?” He thought about the decisions he'd had to make and actions he'd had to take in order to accomplish his mission with the Xindi. He'd cross moral and ethical lines to serve a “greater good” at the time. How different was he then from Master Skywalker's former master?

 

“You are very perceptive, Captain Archer.” Ben told him. There were times he honestly didn't know himself. He wondered what his family's life would have been like if they had all been normal, average people. Would he have been able to know his grandfather as a good man? Would his mother and cousins still be alive? How different would the galaxy have been?

 

“I can't speak for the Jedi, but I can say that I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for a Jedi using his Force powers to rescue me and the rest of my shipmates a few years back.” The X-O said. “It was a real blessing to us anyway. I'll never forget it.”

 

“Most of us have our own stories about the Jedi pulling off the impossible and saving our collective asses from some kind of catastrophe.” Dohai said. “You won't hear me complain about them too often. Not like some.”

 

“What happened to this former master?” T'Pol asked.

 

“He was struck down by Master Jaina Solo; his sister.” Ben told them.

 

Just then there was a beeping sound coming from a pocket of Captain Archer's jumpsuit. He reached into the pocket and pulled out a communicator. Flipping it open he said, “Archer here.”

 

“Sir, we have a situation on the bridge.” Reed's voice came through.

 

“A situation?” Archer asked. It was a long, long walk back to where his ship was berthed.

 

“Yes sir. Someone on the outside attempted to hack into the ship's computer and access data we had recently deemed classified.” Reed told him. Archer knew what that meant as he looked at T'Pol. He had ordered all data they had on transporter technology including blueprints and general theory encrypted and bridge officers' eyes only.

 

“We can't pinpoint where the breach originated, but we're pretty sure the encryption held and they weren't able to read the files they were after.” Reed said.

 

Dohai and his X-O listened to the conversation patiently, and a bit surprised.

 

“Very good Malcolm, We were just finishing up dinner anyway. Increase your encryption protection on the files and try to isolate them from the rest of the system so they can't be accessed except from a console on the ship. We'll be on our way back in a few minutes. Archer out.” The Captain finished.

 

“Trouble, Captain?” Dohai asked.

 

“Someone trying to get their hands on sensitive information.” Archer said, eying the captain a little more suspiciously. “I don't suppose you can trace a signal like that?”

 

“Possibly,” the X-O said. “If our sensors caught it when it occurred we might have a record and be able to trace it back to its source. I'll head to the bridge and look into it for you.” He got up and took his leave of the rest of them and headed for the bridge.

 

“I apologize, Captain. I honestly don't know who would even consider your ship's data worth having considering how primitive it is.” Dohai said.

 

“I'd sure like to find out.” Archer replied.

* * *

 

Archer wasn't as surprised as he would like to have been to learn that the star destroyer's sensors hadn't recorded any unauthorized transmissions to the smaller ship in its hold either from the planet below them or from the star destroyer itself. In fact there was a curious lack of sensor data altogether for the short, minutes long time period involved which the officer on duty was at a loss to explain, having been attentive at his station the entire shift.

 

“I know Ensign Riley, Captain,” the X-O related to Captain archer through the comm, “he's a good man. I did have him up for promotion here soon. If he says he was paying attention then he was, which makes this all the more disturbing. It's a shame this'll have to go on his record.” He said disappointedly. “I'll keep you apprised if we learn anything else.”

 

“Thanks, it's much appreciated.” Archer replied. This last part didn't make Archer feel any better or more secure. He had learned one thing, however. There was more than one limit to these people's technological superiority over them, and there were ways to overcome it if they were forced to.

 

He was alone on the bridge for the moment. Being berthed inside the hold was a lot like being back in Spacedock. You didn't need people on the bridge constantly watching what was around you. Not being able to give people shore leave, he had decided to let his crew use the time being docked inside the star destroyer for recreation as much as was possible.

 

Captain Dohai had offered to allow the _Enterprise_ crew to use the star destroyer's own recreational facilities as long as they stayed away from restricted areas, and Archer had given his OK. Someone had pointed out that being in the past, their continued interaction with these people would cause more disruptions in the time line, but T'Pol had pointed out that they were so far in the past that any disruptions they created would either be completely negligible, or their mere presence would be catastrophic. He opted to be optimistic and hope for negligible. If it was catastrophic then there was nothing he could do about it anyway.

 

There was still the problem of the intruder, but neither Jedi had sensed him since that first encounter. The situation was stressful enough without keeping everyone completely cooped up, and morale was already a little strained given the unique nature of their circumstances. Compared to the _Enterprise_ the _Protector_ was a whole planet unto itself even without access to the more sensitive areas of the ship. First contact, exploration, and getting to know new people was what the _Enterprise_ was all about, so why not now?

 

The doors to the turbolift opened behind him and Archer turned his head around to see who had come on to the bridge. It was Travis. He had a serious look on his face saying that he wanted to talk about something.

 

“Something on your mind, Lieutenant?” Archer asked.

 

“Yes, sir.” Travis said, a little nervous. He came around to sit in his normal seat at helm and then swiveled his chair around to face his captain. He then proceeded to tell his captain about the blood test, and what it meant, including what Master Skywalker had told him.

 

“So, you want to be a Jedi? Is that what you're trying to tell me, Travis?” Archer asked him in a tongue-in-cheek manner. He knew his helmsman well enough to know that he wouldn't just go running off to join a monastery of warrior monks.

 

Travis's expression lightened up a bit at that. “No sir.” He said. “But I don't feel like I can just let it go either. I was thinking there might be a way for the Jedi to teach me how to do what Master Skywalker does, feeling his way through hyperspace. Then we could go anywhere we needed to on our own.”

 

Archer thought about that for a minute. It would be another advantage for them. He then asked, “You know the risks don't you? When you start using the Force you can't really go back, as I understand it. And you run the risk of falling to the dark side if you're not careful. That would be bad for all of us, Lieutenant.” He thought back again to his own experiences and how he had crossed lines that would have led to his own descent down that path under different circumstances. “And from what I'm told, the lines aren't always that clear cut.”

 

“Yeah, I thought about that too.” Travis told him. “I just get this feeling like it's important somehow. Like I can't just walk away from it. I don't know if that's part of this Force thing or not, but it doesn't seem right to just ignore it.”

 

“OK.” Archer said. “You're entitled to whatever spiritual beliefs you want to pursue, and as long as they don't endanger the welfare of this ship, its crew and especially its pilot I'll support you in it. I'll let you talk to them and see what they can teach you as long as we can, but your first duty is to Starfleet and to this crew. Understood?”

 

“Yes, Captain. Thank you, sir.” Travis said. “I guess I should go talk to Master Skywalker then.” He got up to leave. As he reached the turbolift, Archer looked back over his shoulder and said with a smile, “Oh, and Travis?”

 

“Yes, sir?” The Lieutenant asked.

 

“May the Force be with you.” Archer said with a grin.

 

“Right, sir.” Travis smiled back and then left the bridge.

 

* * *

 

In a remote, unused storage room on the star destroyer, a lone uniformed figure made his report to the hologram of a man in a black cloak. The man's face was hidden.

 

“Did you get the data I asked for?” The black robed man inquired, his voice and manner grave and sinister.

 

“Their computers aren't as primitive as we were led to believe, Lord Vengens. There wasn't time to decode the encryption before I was discovered.” The man in uniform said nervously.

 

“You will find I am not a patient man. Neither do I tolerate excuses for failure well.” Lord Vengens said. The holographic image raised a hand and made a gripping motion with it.

 

The uniformed man's throat began to constrict uncomfortably. “Please, Lord, I won't fail you again. I swear!” He begged through a raspy whisper.

 

“I have no use for servants who can't perform a simple task. And I don't like loose ends.” He jerked his hand into a fist and twisted.

 

The uniformed man slumped to the ground dead. The transmission ended as the holocommunicator erupted in smoke and flame.

 

The next day the _Protector's_ comm officer never reported for his duty shift. His body was discovered in a storage closet next to the blackened husk of an unidentifiable piece of electronic equipment. The cause of death was asphyxiation followed by a snapping of the neck. Curiously there were no bruises or marks of any kind to suggest that anyone had physically harmed him in any way.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Coruscant

 

Captain Archer and Lieutenant Mayweather looked with awe upon the grounds of the Jedi Temple in the mid-morning hours. T'Pol nodded approvingly at the atmosphere of serenity and tranquility of the place.

 

A day after the body was discovered, the _Protector_ jumped into hyperspace bound for Coruscant. A little under four hours later the star destroyer emerged from hyperspace and the _Enterprise_ was released from its hold with a sincere “Good luck,” from Captain Dohai. After clearing their presence with Coruscant port and orbital authorities they took up a stationary position high above the coordinates which Ben gave them for the Jedi Temple.

 

Archer wished his doctor had been allowed to examine the body of the comm officer, but the suggestion was dismissed outright by the _Protector's_ medical droids. The robots, it seemed, couldn't fathom how such a primitive people could deduce anything more than they could. At one time he had thought Vulcans were the most stuck up, arrogant beings he could think of. He now knew he was wrong. The Vulcans had nothing on these droids.

 

His only source of information about it was when the Jedi Master was able to examine the body in spite of the droids. Archer was learning that being a Jedi in this galaxy certainly had its privileges as well as its disadvantages. Master Skywalker came away from it greatly disturbed. When Archer had questioned him about it, all he would say was “I need to speak to the Council. It's urgent.” And then he vanished into his quarters for some time. Archer had a feeling that didn't bode well for anyone.

 

All of these thoughts rolled through his mind as he walked through the halls and courtyards of the Temple. He, Travis, T'Pol and the two Jedi had taken a shuttlepod down and were permitted to land in the temple's flight hanger next to some very imposing looking fighter craft.

 

After their brief tour, the apprentice Silva had asked permission to go and find one of her classmates, Astra, he thought the name was. Master Skywalker had then led them to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and took his own leave to go and meet with the Jedi Council about their circumstances.

 

Around them in several different places were Jedi of various ranks quietly sitting or standing. The room seemed designed to optimize the conditions for quiet reflection and meditation. It gave them all time to collect and organize their thoughts. It was relaxing in such a way as to openly defy them to be stressed out.

 

The presence watched them, continuing to be careful as to remain unseen to the Jedi all around him. He had followed their shuttlepod down from their vessel as he continued to watch over them and learn all he could, trying to connect the dots.

 

“Aware of you, we are, Daniel Jackson.” A grainy voice spoke in such a way to where the presence did the equivalent of jerking his head this way and that. “Who said that?” He asked. None of the corporeal beings around him had heard or said anything. No, this was on his own plane of existence.

 

Then his sense were drawn out and he could feel them all around him. The others. Not those he knew, but different. “I was wondering if I was truly alone here.” Daniel said.

 

“Never alone are you.” The grainy voice manifested in a way for Daniel to perceive its owner as a two and a half foot pale green being with large eyes and large pointed ears. It wore a smaller version of the standard robes which the Jedi around him wore. “With you the Force always is.”

 

“Master Yoda.” Daniel said. He knew instinctively who this person was, recognizing him through his connection as an ascended being as well as the pop culture of his youth. Yoda nodded his head with dignity. “I can honestly say I'm surprised to meet you here.” Daniel continued.

 

“Not always clear the will of the Force, even for those of us who one with it have become.” Yoda said.

 

“Are you here to stop me?” Daniel asked, worried now that his own plans would be interfered with.

 

“Stop you?” Yoda chuckled. “No. Belong here you and your people do not. Help you we will, as much as we can. But the choices... to Archer and his crew they belong. Interfere with their choices, we will not, and neither will you. Counsel you may give, as we do. Our way guidance and wisdom is.”

 

Well, that was a better offer than he'd get at home, Daniel thought. Why couldn't the Ancients in his own galaxy be this reasonable? “Agreed, and thank you.”

 

“Thank me yet, do not. A long way to go all of you have.” Yoda told him.

 

“Right. I was afraid of that.” Daniel said.

 

“This one,” Yoda pointed towards Travis, sitting on a bench. “Much guidance he needs. His journey will be difficult. Like young Skywalker's was.”

 

“And how is that?” Daniel asked, his attention drawn to the ebony skinned pilot.

 

“Alone much of his journey will be, without a proper master to instruct him.” Yoda explained. “With his friends he must stay, but the Force he must learn for all their sakes.”

 

“And you want me to help him?” Daniel asked. “I may be ascended but I really don't understand what any of it has to do with the Force, if anything. I don't see how I can help bring him along.”

 

“You will know when the time comes. The Force you must trust to guide you as well. Open your energy to it, flow with it you must.” Yoda told him.

 

“What about the other information I need? How do I get them back to the right time and place in space?” Daniel asked. The Lieutenant's spiritual path notwithstanding, he thought it was the more pertinent question at the moment.

 

“The Force you must trust. Already possess you that which you need to know. Come in time it will. Listen to the Force, you must.” Yoda said cryptically, then hid himself from Daniel again.

 

Daniel wasn't impressed. No, he really didn't know offhand what he needed to know, or did he? Ponder it he would.

 

* * *

 

Ben returned for Travis about an hour later. Silva accompanied him again. He instructed her to take Captain Archer and T'Pol to the Jedi Archives and show them how to use the library materials. He then asked Travis to follow him to the Council chambers.

 

Travis was brought into a large circular room with huge open windows. Around the circumference of the room sat several Jedi Masters in their tan and brown robes on comfortable padded chairs. He felt very out of place in his blue Starfleet uniform jumpsuit as he was made to stand in the middle of it. It was a scene straight out of the movies he had been made to watch over the past few days.

 

“Travis Mayweather.” A master, a middle-aged woman, addressed him. “Welcome to the Jedi Temple.”

 

“Thank you, ma'am.” Travis said humbly.

 

“I am Master Jaina Solo. You have already met my cousin, Master Skywalker. He has informed this council of your potential in the Force, and now after discussing it we have a question for you.” Master Solo explained.

 

“Yes, ma'am?” Travis asked.

 

“What is it you want us to do for you?” She asked him.

 

“Ma'am? I don't understand.” He asked in confusion.

 

“What is it you want us to do for you?” She asked again. “Under other circumstances, even at your age if you were found suitable we would send you to our academy and eventually apprentice you to a master to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi. Under the circumstances, however, our usual practice would be impractical and impossible given your current commitments. So, how is it we can help you?”

 

Travis thought about it. What did he really want from them? Did he want to be a real Jedi? No. He was happy just being a pilot. He knew who he was, and a lightsaber swinging swordsman wasn't it, neither was being a monk meditating in a temple communing with the universe. Whatever this was, he realized this was his journey. No one else's, and no one else could make this decision for him.

 

“I'm a pilot ma'am.” He finally said. “It's what I'm best at, and I'm happy to just keep doing that. I'm told that it's my sensitivity to the Force which allows me to have such good reflexes and intuition when I'm flying. I guess what I'm asking for is instruction on how to gain more control over that. On our way to Naboo I saw Master Skywalker using the Force to feel our way through hyperspace, and I'd like to be able to do that to. If I could sense dangers to the ship before they happened it would help us out a lot. It might even help us get home.”

 

The masters looked at each other, nodding approvingly at his request. It was rare for someone to come to them and want to learn to use the Force for something other than becoming a full Jedi Knight and especially all the prestige that went with it. This was a request they felt they could agree to and honor.

 

“There are many pilots among us in the Order, even on this council.” Master Solo finally said. “For as long as you are here, we will do our best to make the time to help you achieve your request. But ultimately it is up to you to complete what you start. A wise master once said that to be a Jedi requires the most serious mind, and the deepest commitment. Even for the small amount we may be able to teach you in the short time you are here, you must understand that these are not games we play, and the knowledge we impart to you may be sufficient for your purposes and far more. Instruction in the Force is a grave responsibility. Do you understand?”

 

“Yes, ma'am.” He replied soberly. He did understand. As a pilot, he had skills and knowledge which gave him a kind of power over others as well. If he wasn't responsible with it, he could get not only himself killed, but all of his crew mates as well.

 

“Very well. We accept you as a Padawan apprentice, Travis Mayweather for as long of a time as you are with us. You will report to your Captain and request a leave of absence for one week. We will review your progress at the end of that week. After you report to your captain, you will return here and assume the proper dress of a Jedi apprentice.”

 

“Yes...” Travis caught himself as something inside him changed, then said, “Master.”

 

“May the Force be with you.” Master Solo said.

 

“And with you, Master.” Travis responded, and then Ben led him out of the Council chambers.

 

* * *

 

A week. I'm going to be without my chief helmsman for a week. Archer thought as he looked around the stacks of computers and recording media in the Jedi archives. He then revised that estimate. Not just stacks, but stacks upon stacks upon stacks. It might take at least a week just to find anything in here, he thought.

 

It didn't help that all of the records they found would need to be translated into English. He hoped Hoshi hadn't wasted her time aboard the _Protector_ talking to all those Alliance soldiers without the UT. He smiled. His comm officer's idea of flirting was asking someone how they inflected a certain verb, that was why she was the best at what she did. He pulled out his communicator and asked for Hoshi to make herself available to T'Pol. Silva could only help them as far as learning how to use the equipment, and then she had studies to return to. Studies for a fourteen year old girl, that almost sounded normal. And then he remembered that those studies involved learning the most efficient way to separate someone's head from their shoulders if need be.

 

“Is there any way we can download the archive records into tricorders and return to the ship to look through them?” Archer asked T'Pol.

 

“Doubtful. The tricorders have a much more limited memory storage capacity than the amount of data here suggests. We would have to do it a little bit at a time. And it would involve many trips.” T'Pol answered.

 

“What about transmitting the data up to _Enterprise_?” Archer asked.

 

“Not enough computer storage on board, especially with the new navigational data.” She then added, “Captain, I suspect there is more information here than even the largest of ship's computers on one of the star destroyers could hold, and we don't even know exactly what we're looking for. No matter what, it will take time.”

 

“If it's not in the archives it doesn't exist.” Archer muttered.

 

“A nearly accurate approximation,” T'Pol agreed, “at least where this galaxy is concerned.”

 

Not what he wanted to hear, but he hadn't really expected it to be that easy. Nope, Hoshi would have to come down here. She would be spending the week studying, translating records with T'Pol and learning new languages to boot. He didn't know how he was going to break it to her. Well, at least someone should be getting some good recreation time out of all this. But what was the rest of the crew going to do?

 

* * *

 

Travis's first lesson came almost as soon as he returned from reporting to Captain Archer. When he returned to the Council chambers he was given a set of looser fitting Jedi training clothes and was told to put them on. “What about my uniform?” He asked.

 

“We will hold it for you until you return to your ship.” The master speaking looked like a cross between a hammerhead shark and well... he wasn't sure what the other half was.

 

“Don't I need to go back and get anything else?” Travis asked.

 

“Attachments lead to fear.” Another master, a green skinned man with tentacles growing out of his head said gently. “You must learn to let go of your attachments.”

 

“Right. OK. I'm letting go.” He said, taking a deep breath and letting it out. “Where do I change?”

 

He was directed to a small room off the Council chamber and was given a few minutes to disrobe and don his new... well it looked similar to what Silva had been wearing, but also looked a lot like an outfit he had seen pictures of Shaolin monks from China wearing. He supposed that made sense. Similar activities meant similar design requirements for the clothing. It felt a lot like cotton, but he thought it unlikely that they knew what cotton was. It was light tan with a brown belt. He had been given a brown pair of boots with good tread to go with it. He folded up his uniform jumpsuit and left it sitting on the chair in the room. Funny, he almost felt a little naked without it, like he was giving up an important part of himself. He paused a minute, and then let it go, walking back into the presence of the Jedi masters.

 

Master Solo directed him to the green skinned man that had spoken earlier. “This is Master Eddal.” She said.

 

Travis turned to face him, and then in a flash of intuition bowed to him out of respect. Why did I do that? He asked himself. “Master Eddal.”

 

“You will come with me to begin your instruction.” Master Eddal said as he stood up. Travis noticed that one of the tentacles was draped around the man's neck. Without another word, the Jedi Master began to walk slowly towards the Council Chamber door out into the hallway.

 

Travis followed right behind him, questions beginning to form in his mind. Where were they going? What was he going to teach him first? Before he could ask however, Master Eddal said, “Clear your mind.”

 

OK. He thought. Clear my mind. I can do that, he thought as he walked. As soon as he thought it then other thoughts started popping into his mind without his consent. He fought them back down but they still kept coming.

 

Master Eddal led him back to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. It was around noon and Travis' stomach rumbled a little, but he ignored it wondering what the master was going to teach him here.

 

“Do you know what the Force is?” Master Eddal asked him.

 

“It's an energy field, right? It's created by all living things.” He repeated what he had heard in the movies.

 

“True. And do you know what midichlorians are?” The master questioned him again.

 

“They're the microbes that live in our cells that allow us to experience the Force.” Travis said, wondering where he was going with this.

 

“Correct. Very good.” Master Eddal praised his small bit of knowledge. “These microbes are intelligent, sentient even. You must learn to quiet your mind so you can hear what they have to tell you. Through them you open yourself up to the living Force.”

 

“How do I do that?” Travis asked. “I tried to quiet my mind as you said on the walk down here, but all kinds of thoughts kept popping into my head. How do I get them to stop?”

 

“You must focus. Don't think. Feel. You must cultivate your feelings, intuition, and instinct because these are the midichlorians speaking to you. There is no such thing as coincidence and random thoughts have little place in the way of a Jedi.” Master Eddal told him. “Come, sit.” He said and motioned for Travis to sit on a nearby bench. “You must practice.”

 

Travis sat down and closed his eyes. He then tried to focus on what he could feel around him. What were his feelings telling him? He reached out with them. Then, little by little he could feel others around him as energy, flames that flickered and burned with their own light. His eyes flew open, “Whoa.” He exclaimed.

 

“Indeed.” Master Eddal said, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

 

* * *

 

“So, they're in high orbit above the Jedi Temple?” The middle aged man asked his underling from behind his desk.

 

“Yes, sir. They arrived earlier this morning aboard the _Protector_ and have sent a small shuttlecraft down to the temple complex. Our agents report that they haven't gone anywhere else on the planet.” The younger officer delivered his report.

 

“That we know of.” The middle aged man added.

 

“That we know of.” The officer repeated, then said, “If there had been a second shuttle, sir we would have seen and followed it.”

 

Not what I meant, his superior thought to himself. “Continue to monitor their comings and goings. Also, I would like you to devise a plan to get one of our agents on board. Call it a routine customs inspection. Call it anything you want, but I want to know what's in their database.”

 

“Yes, sir.” The agent said crisply and then turned to walk out of the dark office.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Coruscant, One Week Later

 

“Captain's Log: Ship's date, April 16th, 2158. I've decided to keep updating this log with the date our ship's clocks keep telling us. We'll have to straighten it out later if and when we ever get back to our own time and space. We've been in orbit around the planet Coruscant, which is the capitol world of the Galactic Alliance, the federal government which oversees pretty much this entire galaxy. Due to the tens of thousands of years of advanced, space faring civilization, the whole planet has been urbanized to the point where it looks like New York City or San Francisco on a massive planet-wide scale, and I'm told it runs several kilometers from the troposphere all the way down into the crust. Lieutenant Hoshi Sato and Commander T'Pol have spent the last week in the Temple archives translating and sifting through the massive amounts of information stored there. After the first day of searching the archive records for some indication of what happened and how to get home they've told me it would likely be a while before they had anything useful. As a result, I've gone ahead and authorized a rotating forty-eight hour shore leave for a third of the crew at a time. I'm told it should be perfectly safe, and there are plenty of sites to see. There's just no reason to keep everyone cooped up on board while we sit on our hands and wait for news. We haven't heard from our unseen intruder for some time now, and without the Jedi on board, we won't be able to detect him ourselves anyway. After discovering that he has an aptitude as a Jedi, Lieutenant Travis Mayweather is studying with Jedi Masters down in the temple complex. He's hoping to learn how to use this aptitude to help us see our way through Hyperspace. Right now, any advantage we can get is a bonus.”

 

* * *

 

Travis was perched on one hand upside down with his eyes closed trying to focus on the room around him. He had hardly gotten a bit of sleep all week. He had thought Starfleet training was hard, but his physical instructors had nothing on these Jedi Masters. He'd been told to jump ten meters onto a ledge out of reach, lift three hundred kilo objects, and then report what someone in the next room was feeling. Before he had come here, he would have thought what they expected him to perform was completely impossible. But as he came to understand, that was the point. It was impossible if he tried to accomplish it with his own abilities.

 

“Good.” Master Eddal, standing nearby observing, told him. “Feel the Force around you and flowing through you. Draw from it and let it replenish your own energy.”

 

Travis realized it was the Force keeping him stable and focused, not his own muscles. If he shifted his focus towards whether or not he could do it, then he would fall, but if he concentrated on listening to those little microbes in his cells and feeling the Force flowing through him he could rest in it and not feel drained or stressed at all. The trick to it was letting go of himself and surrendering himself to it.

 

“Now, lift those storage boxes there.” Master Eddal didn't bother pointing out which storage boxes he wanted Travis to lift, and his pupil's eyes were closed in concentration anyway. It didn't matter, he expected his ebony skinned apprentice to learn from the Force which ones.

 

In the far corner of the room three storage boxes began to levitate gently in the air. “Good. Very good.” The master encouraged him.

 

“Now, tell me, what is your captain feeling right now? Reach out to him in the Force.” The Twi'lek master instructed.

 

Travis pushed to expand his awareness in the Force. It was an exercise Master Eddal had him doing frequently. What am I feeling? He would ask. Who is in the corridor beyond? How many people are in the Senate building right now? How many ships are in orbit around Coruscant? The information was always there in the Force if he just concentrated and reached out for it. The hard part was keeping his thoughts and doubts from intruding and taking his attention away from the Force. He learned quickly that what he was capable of in the Force was only limited by his own self-doubts. If he believed something was impossible for him, then it was. It was when he let go of his own self-limits and opened up to the possibilities of the Force that the seemingly impossible became possible. It wasn't about what he could do. It was about what the Force could do through him. He had learned to stop saying, “no, that's too far for me,” or “I can't.”

 

“He's feeling frustrated. He doesn't like to have to just sit around and wait.” Travis said. He didn't need the Force to tell him that. After seven years, he knew his captain pretty well.

 

“Well done, Padawan.” Now, let's see how your lightsaber skills have sharpened up since yesterday.

 

Travis heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber being ignited and a split second before it happened he knew that he was going to be sliced in two if he didn't move. With one hand he vaulted from his single hand standing position, somersaulting up and over his master's head. In mid air he reached out with his other hand and called the extra lightsaber at Eddal's belt through the Force igniting it as he landed in what felt like a natural stance, his guard up ready to receive the overhand blow Eddal gave him. It wasn't a matter of thinking, or even physical conditioning. He just felt through the Force what he needed to do and where he needed to be and he followed its lead. It was a cooperation between himself and the Force. It wasn't a tool or a magic trick, but a partner and an ally.

 

“Excellent.” Master Eddal said as he pressed his attack. The first time they had sparred at the beginning of the week it had been with practice lightsabers, and he had gotten a nasty shock more than once, but Eddal thought the real lightsabers would be a more efficient training tool to keep Travis from getting too comfortable. Travis had been confused about why Eddal insisted on lightsaber training when he had told the Council he really wasn't interested in being a fighter. But after several days he realized it was all the same lesson born out in different arenas or modes of activity. Give yourself over to the Force. Don't think, feel. Trust the Force. Stretch out your feelings.

 

“Control your fear, Padawan.” Eddal warned him. “I can feel it. Don't let it guide your way in the Force. That is a dark, dark road you don't want to go down.”

 

Travis checked himself. “Yes, Master.” He had been a little afraid, sparring with the real lightsabers was enough to give anyone pause, he thought.

 

“Remember, fear, anger, hatred, your aggressive emotions may make you temporarily powerful in the Force, but they will consume you with the dark side and destroy you. Watch yourself. Never act in the Force through anger or fear.” Eddal instructed him. It wasn't the first time he said it, and it likely wouldn't be his last either.

 

This was the other lesson of lightsaber training, Travis began to understand. How to maintain calm, peaceful focus in a life threatening situation when your brain is going into a fight or flight response. It wasn't easy either. The dark side really called out to be used then.

 

Travis maintained his guard and met his master blow for blow then thrusting out his free hand he sent Master Eddal flying towards the back of the room in surprise where he would have landed on his backside if he hadn't caught himself in mid air and somersaulted back into position.

 

“Very well done.” Eddal said, his voice full of pride for his student. He hadn't taught him how to do that, it just came naturally to the younger man. Eddal switched off his lightsaber and Travis did the same. “Now, calm your mind. Feel the Force around you.”

 

Travis had a disturbing thought as he tried to clear his mind. “Master, if a person's aggressive emotions make them more powerful in the Force, how would you counter that? Then it really would seem like the dark side was stronger.”

 

“No. It only seems that way.” Eddal said. Then seeing the look of confusion on Travis's face he asked, “What is the most powerful emotion? The most powerful of feelings?”

 

Travis didn't think, he felt for the answer. It was there in front of him. “Love. It's love, isn't it?” He answered.

 

“Exactly.” Eddal said.

 

“But I thought attachments to people could lead one into the dark side.” Travis said, a little more confused than when he started.

 

“Attachments yes.” Eddal explained. “But attachments and love are not the same thing. We become attached to people, places, and possessions because we believe that these will make us happy, or give us pleasure. This isn't love, but desire. Think about your own experiences. A mother with a rebellious child will continue to care for and defend that child regardless of how that child will make her feel, correct?”

 

“Yeah, I guess so.” Travis said. There were times in his own youth when he had been that rebellious child with his mother.

 

“She does so, not because the child will make her happy, but because she loves the child. There is no dark emotion which can come close to the power of love for another. This is the true focus of the Jedi. We focus on love and compassion for one another, and for all other living beings. This is what fuels us in the Force. The dark side can never overcome this. It is through love we are even able to redeem some Jedi who have fallen to the dark side.” Eddal said.

 

“Yeah, I think I get it.” Travis said.

 

“Good. This is the most important lesson I can teach you. Remember it and it will guard you well.” Master Eddal said. He then called Travis' lightsaber back to his own hand. “Come,” he said. “Let's go get some lunch, shall we?”

 

“To the cafeteria, then, Master?” Travis asked.

 

“No, I think you've been cooped up in the Temple enough. I know of a nice restaurant not far from here. It's on me. Your time with us will be drawing to a close shortly and it would be a shame if all you saw of Coruscant were the walls of this temple.” Eddal said, smiling.

 

* * *

 

“This is it?” Archer asked, incredulously. “After a week of searching this is all you found?” T'Pol and Hoshi had reported back to him aboard the _Enterprise_.

 

“As I told you before, their records are extensive, and there were certain subjects which were restricted to study by only those of Jedi Master rank. We could only get access to those files which were publicly available.” T'Pol said.

 

“Captain, we cross referenced and analyzed every scrap of minute data we could get our hands on, and this was the only reference to time-travel they had. Maybe there was something in the more restricted sections, but that was information they really didn't want anyone to have. When I asked the librarian, she said a lot of it had to do with Sith practices and teachings.” Lieutenant Sato told him.

 

“Flow-walking.” He said. “What exactly is flow-walking?”

 

“The only reference to it was a historical note about Grandmaster Luke Skywalker and Master Ben Skywalker traveling to a remote planet to learn the technique. It's supposed to allow a Jedi to see into the past or possible futures.” Hoshi told him.

 

“Well, at least it's something.” He said, exasperated. “So, Master Skywalker knows something about it, then?”

 

“According to the records, yes.” T'Pol said.

 

“Ok, well, let's go talk to him.” Archer said.

 

* * *

 

“It's a dangerous Force technique, Captain.” Ben told him. “I've only known of one other Jedi to perform it, and he turned to the dark side.”

 

Not an encouraging start to the conversation, Archer thought. He had taken a shuttlepod with T'Pol back down to the temple to speak with the Jedi and check up on his helmsman, whom he hadn't seen in seven days. “What makes it so dangerous?” Archer asked.

 

“If one isn't careful, he can fall prey to the temptation of trying to change the past or being caught in it.” Ben explained.

 

“So it is possible to use the Force to relocate yourself physically through time?” T'Pol asked.

 

“What if you didn't want to travel to the past, but to the future?” Archer questioned.

 

“That is difficult. The future isn't set in stone yet, and so there are myriads of possible futures you might travel to. You would need to know exactly which one.” Ben said. He then added, “It may not help you in the way you want it to anyway, Captain. It can only move you through time. It cannot move you through space. You would already have to be in the location in space where the event you wanted to observe happened or will happen.”

 

Well, it's a start anyway, Archer thought. “Could you teach this technique to Lieutenant Mayweather?” He asked the Jedi Master.

 

Ben struggled with it. He knew the request was a reasonable one under the circumstances, but he was still hesitant. He had never used the technique himself. He had only learned it. And it was a teaching which fell into the shades of gray or “rainbow” philosophy of the Force to which his cousin had subscribed before he became a Dark Lord of the Sith, rather than the more “orthodox” view of a light and a dark side. It was a perspective which he had disavowed many years ago because of all the pain it had caused his family.

 

“I am... not sure it would be wise to teach anyone this technique.” Master Skywalker said. “Much less a learner so new to the Force, regardless of the great strides he's made.”

 

Seeing it wouldn't be best to push the subject with him right now, Archer seized the opportunity to inquire after Travis. “So, he's doing well?” He asked.

 

“I am told he has made great progress in his training. Master Eddal believes it a shame that he must leave us so soon. He has the potential and the disposition to be a very great Jedi if he had more time and training.” The Jedi Master told him.

 

Wow. Travis must really have impressed them. Archer thought. Then again, that shouldn't have been such a surprise. He's never ceased to impress me since he came on board the _Enterprise._

 

“So when do we get him back?” Archer asked.

 

“He goes before the Council to be examined and evaluated this afternoon.” Master Skywalker said.

 

“Jedi final exams?” Archer asked, amused.

 

“In a manner of speaking, I suppose.” Master Skywalker said.

 

T'Pol jumped into the conversation again, “may we at least ask you to consider teaching Lieutenant Mayweather how to 'flow-walk'? It may be key to our returning to our own time.”

 

He looked put off at her attempt to sway him again, but then finally relented, “I will discuss the matter with the Council, and make my decision then.”

 

“Thank you, Master Skywalker.” Archer said. “I'll take whatever I can get.”

 

“Of course.” He said. He then added, “Please don't misunderstand my hesitancy and caution about this matter. I do understand the seriousness of your situation and the potential solution which it might bring. But there are other, larger implications which must be considered with consequences which could be wide and far ranging. The risk to the entire galaxy must be considered as more important than your own problem, severe though it may be.”

 

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” T'Pol said, understanding.

 

“Exactly.” The Jedi agreed.

 

* * *

 

The restaurant turned out to be a little cafe housed in the top corner of a skyscraper connected to the Temple by a series of narrow bridges that seemed to fan out and criss-cross all over the city. The view of the Coruscanti skyline was magnificent.

 

The cafe was filled with beings of every possible kind of species and description. He wondered if once the coalition treaty was worked out if Earth would become as cosmopolitan as Coruscant had. Travis had no idea what to order when the Twi'lek waitress came over to their table and asked, so he followed Master Eddal's example and went with something that sounded like it was some kind of soup.

 

“Do you eat here often, Master?” Travis asked.

 

“I try to visit at least once and a while when my responsibilities call me back to the Temple.” Eddal said.

 

“So, you're offworld a lot then?” Travis inquired.

 

“Far too often, it seems sometimes. It's our responsibility as Jedi now to protect the Alliance just as it was the responsibility of Jedi in ages past to protect the Republic. Sometimes that includes protecting it from itself. Threats to democracy and freedom tend to crop up in the unlikeliest of places all across space.” Eddal said, taking a sip of water. “You never know when the Force will prompt you to take action, or what action you will be forced to take until it is called for.”

 

Travis meditated on that silently, taking sips from his own water. His attention drifted to the view outside, and all the airspeeder traffic which zipped by and weaved in and out of the endless buildings. Their talk then turned to lighter matters of where either were from, what Eddal's home planets was like, what it was like for Travis to grow up on a low speed cargo ship, and other things of that nature. They had been chatting about the different planets that each had been to in their lives when their food came. Two bowls of steaming, seasoned greenish liquid with some kind of meat floating around in it. It didn't smell unappetizing, and Travis began to sample it.

 

Master Eddal then stood up and said, “If you'll excuse me, I need to use the refresher.” Curiously he left the lightsaber Travis used during practice on the table.

 

“What, oh, of course.” Travis said. It amazed him how alien and yet how so very much like Earth this world could be. He was lost in this train of thought when he sensed a disturbance in the Force followed by yelling outside the doors of the restaurant. He turned his focus that way and sensed someone was in danger.

 

“Stupid whore!” He heard, and that was all he needed to hear. He grabbed the lightsaber, jumped up and ran for the restaurant doors.

 

Outside, a huge green troll with big ugly tusks and beady little yellow eyes was holding his Twi'lek waitress by the throat with massive muscular fingers that Travis was pretty sure were capable of crushing the woman's windpipe with only a flex of his fingers.

 

“Hey, let the lady go big fella!” Travis shouted at him. “Let's try to talk this out, okay?” His pulse was up, and his heart was racing. This guy could do some serious damage to this girl. A crowd was beginning to form, and someone yelled for security. Someone else shouted, “Wait the Jedi's got it under control!”

 

Travis turned his head trying to see if Master Eddal had made his way back from relieving himself, but the Jedi Master was nowhere to be found. “What Jedi?” Travis said, then looked down at himself. “Oh. Wait a min...” He started to say. “I'm not a...”

 

“You! Jedi poodoo, stay out of this! None of your business!” The troll yelled at him, then began swearing at the woman again, his fingers looking like he was getting ready to squeeze the life out of her.

 

“Do something!” Someone else in the crowd yelled. “Are you a Jedi or aren't you?”

 

Travis thought, and then realized that was his problem, he was trying to think through the situation. Feel, don't think his Master had said. Use the Force, listen to it. He closed his eyes and opened himself up to the Force. “Yeah, I'm a Jedi.” He said as he ignited the lightsaber. Immediately he was flooded with the feelings and images of the people around him as he focused on the troll and the struggling waitress. Something didn't feel right. The troll felt cheated somehow.

 

“Hey, big fella, listen, I'm going to give you one more chance to talk it out, but I promise you you'll lose that arm if you hurt her.” Travis warned him in no uncertain terms. “Whatever way she cheated you, we'll get it fixed without harming her.” Travis brandished the lightsaber with a few menacing waves.

 

“Tried to steal from Balrek! Stupid waitress not give him back money she owed him!” The troll roared.

 

“That's what this is about? She didn't give you the right change?” Travis asked, dumbfounded. “Man, let her go and I swear I'll fix it.” Travis promised.

 

“Jedi swears?” The troll asked. “Okay. Balrek not crush thieving waitress' neck.” The troll released the Twi'lek woman and she dropped to the ground gasping for breath and clutching her throat. “I'm... sorry...” she gasped. “I thought... you handed me... a twenty credit credcard... instead of a hundred credit... credcard.” She gasped breathlessly.

 

Travis went over to help her up. He felt her energy through the Force. She would be ok. The troll was still waiting for his correct change. “Jedi swore.” He said.

 

“Yeah, I did. Give me a minute.” Travis said, annoyed as he helped the poor waitress back into the restaurant. He set her down and he felt through the Force for the troll's impression on the scattered cards near the server's computers. He found it. The troll was right. It was a hundred credits. The lady owed him eighty five and she only gave him five credits back. Yeah, he'd be upset too, he thought, as he showed it to her.

 

The troll followed them back into the restaurant. Travis could feel his anger and impatience rolling through the Force towards him.

 

“How did I make that mistake? I could have sworn it was only a twenty. I'm so sorry.” She said, rubbing her neck as she quickly fixed the troll's change and gave him back his credcard. The troll took it roughly and then stormed off. Travis called out, “You're welcome.” As he watched the troll push his way through the gathered crowd and disappear.

 

“Thank you, Jedi.” The waitress said. She then added, “Don't worry about your own bill. I'll cover it.”

 

“You don't need to do that ma'am. I just did what anyone would have done.” Travis said humbly.

 

“But not what just anyone could have done.” Travis heard the voice of Master Eddal say behind him. Travis turned to face him. “There are even some Knights who have passed their own trials who would have struck the Gammorean's arm off first and only tried to understand his problem as a last resort.”

 

Travis looked at him and said, “I didn't really understand what being a Jedi meant before now.” He gestured towards the now dispersing crowd. “They didn't even call the security personnel because I was there with a lightsaber in hand. If I had been forced to make the call to lop off his arm or even take his life, I could have and people would have accepted it, wouldn't they have? Being a Jedi can mean the responsibility of judge, jury, and executioner, can't it?”

 

“You have learned much. Yes, a wise master Jedi once said, 'with great power comes great responsibility.' You have proven your ability to accept and handle that responsibility today. You did very well, Jedi Travis Mayweather.” Putting his hand on Travis' shoulder, he then added, “Congratulations. You passed your trial.”

 

* * *

 

Travis appeared one more time before the Jedi Council as Master Eddal reported his actions at the restaurant and how his charge had handled the situation. The masters present listened with rapt interest and once again nodded approvingly.

 

“You have learned much in the short time you have been with us, Travis Mayweather.” Master Solo told him. “There are Jedi who train since they can walk who do not progress as far as you have in such a short time.”

 

“I don't understand, Master.” Travis said, “I've only been here a week. How can you believe me to be ready for a Jedi trial?”

 

Master Skywalker spoke up. “My father only trained with Grandmaster Yoda for as long as you have been here, and his instruction with Master Kenobi was even more brief than that. The length of time one trains often has no bearing on when he understands what it really means to be a Jedi. When you are ready, you are ready.”

 

“But I didn't want to be a full Jedi.” Travis protested. “I'm just a pilot.”

 

“That is not your decision any more than it was ours.” Master Solo said. “This is what you were born to just as much as we were. It is the Force which calls us to it, and it is the Force which guides and shapes our destinies. How and in what way you choose to use the knowledge and understanding we have provided for you is up to you. We can only open the door for you, you must choose to walk through it, and by choosing to accept responsibility for the Gammorean and the Twi'lek woman's fates you did that. This is what it means to be a Jedi Knight.” She then said, “you may now return to your ship and your people with our blessing, Jedi Knight Mayweather.”

 

* * *

 

Observing the scene were Jedi Masters long since having shed their corporeal natures. “Too short. His training was too short.” One complained.

 

“Mine wasn't so different.” Another one said. “And I had to rebuild the order on that short amount of time. He'll do well.”

 

One stood apart from the others, watching the scene as the Lieutenant was given back his blue Starfleet jumpsuit to change into. After he was back in his usual uniform, the master who trained him also presented him with the lightsaber he had trained with saying, “this belongs to you, I believe. I already have one.” The younger man took it, bowing at the waist and saying, “thank you, Master.”

 

“Don't forget these.” Eddal also said, pointing at the Jedi training clothes Travis had just changed out of. “Take them and remember us, even if you never wear them again.”

 

Travis smiled, and then said, “Yes, Master Eddal.”

 

The tiny green Master moved closer to the one apart from the others. “Solution, you have found yet?” He asked.

 

“I'm not sure. I know how we got here. I also know that getting back to our own galaxy will involve both the warp engines and the hyperdrive again. But I still don't know how to bring them back into the proper time.”

 

“Solution, there is.” Yoda said, pointing a small clawed finger towards Master Ben Skywalker who looked pensive, and somewhat resigned as he approached the Lieutenant. “May I speak with you, Jedi Mayweather?” Ben asked Travis.

 

“Of course, Master.” Travis responded.

 

“Your captain and first officer have asked me to teach you a technique which may aid you in getting home. Please come with me.” He led him away from the Council chamber.

 

Daniel followed them through the halls and into the side chamber where Ben began to explain more thoroughly.

 

“Go with him, you must. Have need of your counsel, they will.” Yoda's wizened voice told a fellow ascended being.

 

“Yes, Master.” He responded.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

In Orbit around Coruscant

 

Archer, T'Pol, and the rest of the bridge crew threw Travis an impromptu graduation party in the mess hall when he returned. The Council had given their own report and account of the Lieutenant's progress and their approval to the Captain via the comm before they had sent the shuttle down to retrieve him. Hoshi had then brought up the suggestion of celebrating his achievement somehow, and Archer agreed, asking the _Enterprise's_ chef to whip up a quick graduation cake and some other refreshments. It was good to have something to celebrate.

 

After the party, Archer recalled the last of his crew who had been on shore leave. The Council seemed to have timed Travis' graduation pretty well as it came right on the heels of the last forty eight hour shore leave stint. The crew seemed to be in better spirits after taking in the sights and sounds of the altogether too big city and they all had some pretty interesting stories to tell. Trip and Malcolm even managed to keep their clothes on and mostly stay out of trouble, unlike previous shore leaves.

 

The best news he received was that Master Skywalker had chosen to instruct Travis in the art of flow-walking. He had even attempted it once with some success. Nothing extreme, just taking him back a few days prior to watch himself training, but it seemed to be enough for him to grasp the concept. But, as he told his captain, he still didn't know how to make it useful to get them back to the right future and the right time in the far, far future. But it was progress anyway.

 

Now, he sat on the bridge in his command chair watching the horizon of the planet below him he wondered where to go next to get the answers he needed. His bridge officers were all back in their stations where they belonged and everything began to feel a little bit better.

 

“Sir, I've got an incoming request from Coruscant.” Lieutenant Sato informed him, breaking his moment of peace. “It's a Colonel Devion. He wants us to allow some of his personnel aboard to run some kind of regulatory diagnostics on our computer equipment.”

 

“Why haven't we heard about this before now?” Archer asked.

 

Hoshi repeated the question to the officer who had contacted her. “He says that he's received reports of us running substandard computer software. They need to check it for corrupted programs which could make their way into the computer systems below.” Hoshi explained.

 

“Tell them we run our own maintenance checks frequently, and they've all recently checked out okay.” Commander Tucker said from his position near the engineering station. “He's got my word on it.”

 

Hoshi smiled and relayed the message. “He says that's not good enough. He wants us to prepare for inspection.”

 

“Captain,” Travis spoke up, “I'm getting a really bad feeling about this guy. Something's really not right.”

 

“I'm getting that feeling, too.” Archer said offhand. Then, spying the new cylinder Travis sported hanging from his waist, he then asked more perceptively, “Is that a Jedi feeling, Travis?”

 

“Yes, sir.” The Lieutenant responded. “I feel like we need to break orbit and get out of here right now, sir.”

 

Archer considered that seriously. “Alright, break orbit and get us out of here, any heading, warp five.” He ordered.

 

“Yes, sir.” Travis laid in a quick course and the ship became streaks of light in space as they went to warp.

 

* * *

 

“Sir, the _Enterprise_ has fled from orbit using their primitive FTL engines.” Colonel Devion was told by his underling.

 

“So, we have time then. Prepare my shuttle, and have the _Corellia_ readied for departure. They've chosen to do this the hard way. So be it.” Devion said. Foolish people. It could have been so much easier if they had just cooperated with him.

 

“Yes, sir.” The underling hurried away to fulfill his orders.

 

So much the better, he thought. They may need to reverse engineer that interesting bit of technology from the hardware if they couldn't decipher the data. It would also help to have some of _Enterprise's_ crew on hand.

 

Let them feel like they had gotten away for a few hours, or maybe even a day. The _Corellia_ would find them and overpower them easily.

 

* * *

 

The _Enterprise_ stayed at high warp for the next several hours, changing course three times in the hopes of throwing off pursuit. When they thought they had gotten away clean, and believed that no one had pursued them, they dropped out of warp to give the engine nacelles time to cool down a bit before their next move.

 

That was when the star destroyer appeared out of nowhere and grabbed them with a tractor beam they couldn't escape from, pulling them into their hull.

 

“Malcolm lock phase cannons on that tractor beam!” Archer shouted at his weapons officer.

 

“I can't captain, the tactical controls aren't responding! Nothing's working!” Reed shouted back.

 

“Damn them!” Archer said. “Hoshi, open hailing frequencies!” He ordered.

 

“Open sir.” She said.

 

“What the hell do you think you're doing?” Archer shouted into the air. “We didn't break any of your laws!”

 

“Just sit back and relax captain. The _Corellia_ has taken control of your ship. Don't put up any resistance and it will be all over in a short time.” An oily voice came through the comm speakers.

 

“Right.” Archer said.

 

The _Enterprise_ was pulled slowly and against their wills into the vehicle hold of the star destroyer, after which the larger ship jumped into hyperspace away from the Core Alliance worlds. It emerged again near the Outer Rim several hours later, far away from any Alliance controlled systems.

 

“You will unlock your starboard airlock to allow my troopers access to your ship, Captain.” The oily voice then informed them. “If you resist, I will cut your life-support and environmental controls, and when you are dead I will still send my men aboard to collect what I want.”

 

“Maybe we can be reasonable. What is it you want?” Archer said, trying to negotiate.

 

“Why that's the spirit, Captain. I want all the information you have on your quantum teleportation device.” The voice said.

 

So it was about the transporter. “You could have just asked.” Archer said. “I can be reasonable. And sharing technology can be a part of our original mission.”

 

“Indeed. Well, consider this just a part of your standing orders, Captain.” He said, then his tone of voice became menacing. “Prepare to be boarded.”

 

* * *

 

The soldiers in jet black armor and faceless dark helmets came aboard in wave after wave. Well armed, over a hundred of them stormed the ship and secured it before Colonel Devion himself chose to come aboard and speak to Captain Archer face to face. His own uniform was black from his collar down to his boots. Archer didn't know what that signified, but he doubted it was anything good.

 

“Colonel Devion of the Galactic Alliance Guard.” The middle aged man introduced himself.

 

“If we cooperate and give you transporter technology, will you let us go?” Archer asked him, straight to the point. He could have sworn the man in black in front of him had pale, yellow eyes.

 

“You are in no position to negotiate, Captain. I will take your 'transporter' whether you cooperate or not.” Devion said. “However, I will make you this deal since I'm in such a generous mood. Once I am satisfied we have everything we need to make this technology work, I will release your ship and its crew into space unharmed, if you stay out of our way.”

 

“Agreed.” Archer said. He was beaten, and he knew it. He hated it, but it was true.

 

“Good. I'm glad you do.” Devion said with a smile.

 

The rest of the bridge crew had soldiers training their weapons on them. They had been ordered to keep their hands out in the open. Travis, sitting at the helm complied like everyone else.

 

Something gnawed at him though. Something was really not right with this guy, Devion, Travis thought to himself. There was just something dark that he could feel emanating off of him in waves. “Don't trust him.” A voice said to him in his mind. Travis couldn't say anything in response without drawing suspicion. He didn't know where the voice had come from, but it felt warm and trustworthy. But the message wasn't necessary. Colonel Devion had sleazebag written all over him.

 

More black garbed men with computer equipment came on board and began hacking into the ship's systems. “Sir, this would save us time if the database was decrypted.” One of them addressed Devion.

 

“Captain, if you would be so kind as to expedite matters for us?” Devion asked Archer.

 

“Go ahead Malcolm.” Archer told his weapons officer. Reed then tapped a few places on his control panel and the files in question began decrypting.

 

“Excellent, Captain. You're right, cooperation is easier.” He then turned to one of the soldiers holding a rifle on Archer, and said, “Lieutenant, round up the ship's crew and confine them to their quarters where they won't be in our way.”

 

“Yes, Colonel.” The black armored figure said.

 

Addressing Captain Archer once more, he said, “I'll be on the bridge of my ship in the event we need to cooperate further.” Devion said, and then departed the bridge.

 

* * *

 

“Captain's Personal Log: The Enterprise has been captured and overrun by soldiers from the Galactic Alliance Guard. They have detained us against our wills in our quarters while they continue to try and figure out our transporter technology. It's been three hours since they locked us up and I haven't heard anything more from Colonel Devion.”

 

Archer had been pacing his quarters for all three of those hours like a caged tiger. He couldn't do anything and he knew it. No matter how many times he reasoned it through, Devion seemed to be holding all the cards. Even if they could somehow disable the hundred or so soldiers which now held the ship captive on the inside, they would still have to be able to get out of the belly of this behemoth and escape from its tractor beam, not to mention its weapons, engines, and tracking sensors. He needed any advantage he could get, and he just didn't see any.

 

“I think it's time we talked, Captain Archer.” A male voice said from behind him as he faced the drawings of all the ships which had been christened _Enterprise_ hanging on the wall of his quarters. He spun around to find the form of a man a little younger than himself with sandy blond or light brown hair, he wasn't quite sure which, wearing a simple tan tunic and matching trousers. The man glowed with a soft white light.

 

“And just who the hell are you?” Archer asked, warily.

 

The man smiled and then pursed his lips as though trying to determine where to begin. He then said, “First, I have to apologize, Captain. You see, in a roundabout way it's my fault you and your crew were put into this situation in the first place. If I hadn't allowed my descendant to find my diaries, you never would have been testing any hyperspace technology.” The younger man said sincerely.

 

“Which leads back to my original question.” Archer asked, a little less aggressively this time.

 

“My name is Daniel Jackson. I was an original member of the Stargate program which your experimental engines were based on.” He walked over to a chair and motioning asked, “may I?”

 

Archer gestured his approval. “That was a hundred and fifty years ago. What are you, some kind of ghost?”

 

“Not exactly. And neither of us has the time for me to explain.” He said. “But there are some things that you need to know, and the others like myself in this galaxy are granting me leeway in order to help all of us get home.”

 

“Such as?” Archer asked, beginning to feel hopeful.

 

“Such as you need to allow these people to take the transporter technology. I've been doing some research on their ship, and there's a reason why they want it beyond the obvious applications having to do with the stargates themselves.” Daniel told him.

 

“Stargates?” Archer asked.

 

“Starfleet really didn't tell you much about what they found, did they?” Daniel said. “I suppose the military's propensity for secrets wasn't confined to my own time was it?” He then continued to explain. “The stargate is a device which allows almost instantaneous travel between two points in space regardless of distance. They work by generating stable wormholes between those two points. But you can't just send whole matter through or else it would be destroyed.”

 

“You need to break it down into a transporter signal.” Archer said, understanding.

 

“Yes, transporter technology is what makes the whole thing work.” Daniel said. “The gates were originally developed by a race of human beings millions of years ago who then traveled to our galaxy and others seeding certain planets with them. We never could quite work out where they originally came from.” He told the captain.

 

“And you think it's the people here?” Archer asked.

 

“I think so, yes.” Daniel nodded. “I was able to do a little bit of digging, and I turned up research notes on the _Corellia_ on experiments with creating stable wormholes for travel in between two points in space, the devices being used were prototypes of a stargate. Even the name of the project in their language reminds me of the ancient's term for them, 'astria porta'.”

 

“Well, they can have the damn transporter technology for all I care right now. We just need to get home.” Archer said, frustrated.

 

“But there's another wrinkle. These people need to have the transporters but it would be very, very bad for Devion to have them. I've been watching him too.” Daniel said.

 

“And?” Archer asked.

 

“I think he's what the Jedi refer to as a Sith.” He told him.

 

“Great. What does that mean?” Archer asked.

 

“It means that if he gets his own hands on this, the Alliance may be looking at another Darth Vader or even Emperor very shortly.” Daniel said as seriously as he could. “You can't let that happen.”

 

“I can't let that happen.” Archer repeated. “In case you haven't noticed, I don't exactly have a lot of options right now.” He then asked, “isn't there anything you can do about it?”

 

“Power-wise, yes. I could destroy the entire star destroyer with a thought. But the others here are only letting me advise and counsel you, and that's a lot more than they could be allowing.” Daniel said. “They won't let me interfere physically.”

 

“Why the hell not?” Archer asked, exasperated.

 

“Believe me, it frustrates me just as much as you.”

 

“Somehow, I doubt that very much.” The captain's voice began to raise towards a yell.

 

“There's one more thing you need to know.” Daniel said carefully. “Their attempts at understanding the technology aren't going well. They tore out your transporter and removed it to their ship trying to reverse engineer it.”

 

“Fine, let them have it.” Archer said, dismissively.

 

“They also took Commanders Tucker and T'Pol and an engineering team captive to teach them how it works and help them adapt it to their stargate prototype.” Daniel said. “Devion isn't likely to let them go or you go.”

 

Archer practically yelled, “And you can't lift a finger to stop him?!”

 

“No, but there is someone on board who can.” Daniel said. “Someone whose trek has only just begun.”

 

* * *

 

Travis closed his eyes and tried to reach out in the Force to find out what was going on. He had been locked in his cabin like everyone else. The last time this happened—and yes there was a last time—Commander Tucker had rigged a way for everyone to communicate through the door chimes. But so far, Travis hadn't heard a peep from anyone. He didn't know why, but something was different this time.

 

He stretched out his awareness into the room he was in, and then pushed it outward towards the corridors. There were soldiers stationed at every door and portal entrance in the hallway. He didn't sense anything malevolent from them, they were just following orders. Acting on intuition he then turned his attention to Commander Tucker's quarters. He wasn't where he was supposed to be. That was really strange.

 

Just then his door chime spoke to him, “Hey Travis?” It was Captain Archer's voice. Travis got up and hurried to the door to try and talk back. “Yes sir. Did Commander Tucker get us talking again?” He asked.

 

“No, this was set up by someone else.” Archer then proceeded to explain the situation the way Daniel had described it. “Right now, you're the only one on board the ship who is in a position of doing anything about it. Devion doesn't know about your Jedi training.”

 

“I see.” Travis said, taking his lightsaber from his pocket and fingering it gently. He had quietly slipped it in a leg pocket of his jumpsuit as he stood up to be escorted from the bridge so that none of the soldiers saw him with it. Now it represented their possible rescue.

 

“We've got several objectives. We need to get all of these Guard soldiers off of this ship, rescue our people, and break free from their hold. We also need to disable their weapons, engines, tracking sensors, and tractor beam. Finally, we need to do something about Colonel Devion.”Archer said.

 

Travis didn't need to ask what his captain meant by “do something” about him. There was only one thing which he felt could be done. “Do you have a problem with handling Devion?” Archer asked. “If you do, tell me now.”

 

“No, sir.” He said. Sith are the responsibility of a Jedi, he thought to himself. This is my responsibility, now.

 

“If you can get to me and let me out, I might be able to get to the self-destruct controls. Once you've got our people and have disabled their ship, we might be able to rig the self-destruct with a long enough timer to where the soldiers will have to abandon this ship and the _Corellia_ will have to eject us. Once we're out into open space we can make a run for it.” Archer said.

 

“That's quite the long shot sir.” Travis said.

 

“Agreed.” Archer replied. “Got any better ideas?”

 

“No sir.”

 

“I realize I'm asking the impossible of you, Travis. But if you don't, it's going to go very badly for not just us.” Archer said.

 

“Yes sir. I'll do my best.” Travis said, not hopeful.

 

“That's all I can ask.”

 

But first, I need to get out of my cabin, Travis thought. He cast his eyes around his quarters for ideas, and his gaze was drawn to his Jedi training clothes. “Hmm, I wonder...”

 

* * *

 

He knocked on his door a couple of times. “Hey trooper, open up!” He put a bit of the Force behind his voice. Two seconds later the door slid open to reveal a very surprised trooper. “Jedi? Sir, I...”

 

“Never mind. You will escort me to the captain's quarters now.” Travis said with an imperceptible wave of his hand. It actually didn't take much effort. This trooper seemed more than willing to obey the instructions of a Jedi. “I will escort you to the captain's quarters now.” He repeated dreamily. Travis began to walk behind him. There were troopers stationed every fifteen feet down the corridor and two at the turbolift. He could feel the confusion and heightened anxiety from them upon seeing the unknown man in Jedi garb with a lightsaber at his waist. None of them questioned his presence there, however. Being a Jedi carried a certain amount of weight, even among these troopers. So far so good.

 

Up the turbolift and down another corridor to the captain's door he went with his “escort”. The trooper stationed there looked nervous as Travis stood there. “Sir, I have orders from Colonel Devion that no one is to enter these quarters.”

 

“Open the door.” Travis ordered the trooper, putting the weight of the Force behind his words. The trooper became confused then hit the controls on the door. The door slid open and his captain stepped out with a worried look on his face.

 

“You will stand guard here and tell no one what has happened.” Travis told the two troopers. “We will tell no one what has happened here.” They dutifully replied.

 

Travis and Archer made their way quickly and quietly to auxiliary control. Curiously, there were no troopers stationed there. They counted themselves lucky. “Okay, so far so good.” Archer said, he then tossed Travis a communicator. “Call me when you've got them and are on your way back.” He said.

 

“What about Devion?” Travis asked.

 

“Right, you've got to deal with him first.” Archer said, reminded of their other pressing problem.

 

“I don't suppose I could just order the star destroyer to release us?” Travis asked.

 

“Can't take any more chances than we have to.” Archer said. “Are you sure you're up for this?” He asked him again, concerned.

 

“Like it or not, I'm a Jedi.” Travis asked. “This is what we do.” He said with all the gravity he was feeling at the moment.

 

“Okay then. Good hunting, and may the Force be with you.” Archer said.

 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

On board the _Corellia_

 

“Colonel, our internal sensors and communications just went down!” The bridge officer reported, almost panicking. “Backups are inoperative as well!”

 

Devion had been interrupted from his studying the schematics they had gleaned from the Earth ship's database. “What? Find the cause!” He let his anger fuel him as he reached out in the Force across the ship until he was surprised by a familiar, and unwelcome presence. “Jedi...” He whispered softly. “Get the internal ship broadcasting back up! We have an intruder on board. Go to alert status!” He barked orders to the crew.

 

He reached into his own pocket and fingered the thin but sturdy handle of a lightsaber blade. So, you've finally discovered me, have you? He thought. Well then, Jedi, come and get me.

 

* * *

 

Well, that was fun while it lasted, Travis thought as the alert klaxons sounded throughout the ship. He had been able to discreetly disable the computer systems which controlled the systems he needed to bring down. Sparks flew from the lightsaber slashes which now crisscrossed the ship's main computer core. Yep, they won't be bringing them back online any time soon, he thought.

 

He reached out in the Force to locate his missing crewmen. He found them, several decks above him. Okay, no sweat. I just casually walk up there and get the guards to release them. No problem.

 

Suddenly a voice rang out with the alert klaxon, “Intruder alert. Intruder is posing as a Jedi, use of deadly force is authorized!”

 

Great. He thought. Just what I needed.

 

A squad of troopers appeared down the corridor and spotted him. “There he is, blast him!” They shouted.

 

“How original.” Travis said, igniting his lightsaber and giving himself to the Force. “Sorry about this guys. You're not giving me any choice.” He then charged the troopers, blaster bolts bouncing off his lightsaber blade.

 

He somersaulted over them and shoved back with his free hand with the Force. The troopers went flying backwards hard. They landed unconscious on the floor. Travis continued to run down the corridor. Which way? He questioned when he got to an intersection. Left, he felt, and turned the corner only to run into more black armored guards. “Stand down, troopers!” He shouted.

 

“Arrest him!” The lead trooper shouted as the others opened fire.

 

“I really don't want to do this!” Travis said as he shoved them back with the Force. “Don't make me use this!” He said, getting more frustrated as he batted blaster bolts back at the troopers who dodged his Force push. He really didn't want to seriously hurt otherwise good soldiers who were just following orders.

“This is what we do.” A voice said in his mind. “These are the choices we must make.” Travis didn't know the voice of the speaker, but it came into his mind as though it was a long forgotten memory. I don't want to be an executioner, man, he told the voice in his mind. “I didn't either, but sometimes, we aren't given a choice.”

 

“I'm sorry, guys.” He told the troopers. They couldn't hear him. It didn't matter. Closing his eyes, he charged them; calmly resigning himself and giving himself over even more fully to the Force. By the time he opened his eyes again, the troopers which were behind him lay scattered in pieces along the passageway he had just come through. He didn't have time to stop and think about what he'd just done. He had to rescue his shipmates.

 

He reached a turbolift and ordered it to the deck where they were being held. He sensed danger behind the doors and raised his lightsaber into the position he knew it would need to be. The turbolift doors opened to blaster fire which he immediately caught on his blade and batted back. He didn't stop and think. He didn't have time to plan. He just did, the Force guiding him through the motions as he leaped, slashed, rotated, and force pushed the troopers out of his way. He reached the door of the chamber where he could feel they were being held. It was sealed shut.

 

“I'm afraid they won't be going anywhere with you today, Jedi.” The familiar snake oil voice of Colonel Devion said behind him. He heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber being activated and jumped, back flipping to avoid the strike he could feel was coming.

 

“You're that boy that Eddal has been teaching for the last week aren't you?” Devion said. “I see you've learned your lessons well.” He twisted and snapped his booted foot up and back in a powerful kick which Travis narrowly avoided.

 

Travis said nothing. He concentrated on his opponent's moves and felt for his next move through the Force.

 

“You don't want to kill me, do you boy?” He taunted, a bit surprised. “I can feel your weakness. Your compassion for people, even me. How pathetic. Jedi are made of sterner stuff than that.” Devion pressed his attack with rapid blows with his scarlet colored lightsaber each of which Travis caught on his energy blade.

 

“Compassion isn't a weakness, Devion. Or should I call you Vengens?” He said.

 

“So you've discovered my little secret, have you. No matter. You won't be telling anyone, now will you. You may not want to kill me, but I have no qualms about squashing you.” Devion reached out with his free hand and lightning crackled towards Travis which he caught on his blade. Travis reached out with the Force and pushed towards the older man, who flew backwards against the bulkhead hitting his head and opening up a cut.

 

“You may be a Sith, but you sure don't seem to understand the first thing about the Jedi.” Travis said calmly, walking towards him.

 

With far more grace and speed than Travis would have thought possible Devion leaped at him with his lightsaber, but Travis was immersed in the Force and redirected the Sith into the opposing bulkhead. He hit the bulkhead hard and came crashing down to the grated floor, arching his back he immediately brought himself back to his feet. He reached out with his free hand and made a gripping motion with his fist. Travis found himself raised into the air, choking and unable to breathe.

 

“I think I understand the Jedi just fine.” Devion said, tightening his fist.

 

Travis began to panic and almost lost control. Then the voice came into his mind again, “Feel the Force, let it flow through you and around you. Feel, don't think.”

 

Travis stopped struggling and closed his eyes against the pain of a crushing windpipe. He could feel where Devion was and the flow of the Force around him. He raised his lightsaber and threw it, directing without error towards its target. It struck and he called his blade back to his hand, where it settled willingly. Suddenly he found himself released and on the floor. He opened his eyes to find Devion's body on the floor, his head resting two meters apart from it. Strangely there was no blood. The stench of cooked human flesh told him that the lightsaber's blade had cauterized the head and neck when it severed them. He nearly retched at the sight and smell.

 

“You don't have time for this.” The voice said again. It was right. He ran back to the door and by instinct plunged the lightsaber into the reinforced metal, cutting into it a roughly human sized rectangular opening. When it was done, he Force pushed the metal through the opening and stepped through.

 

Inside Commanders Tucker and T'Pol, and several engineers all wore looks of total surprise as if they were seeing him for the first time. “Travis?” Commander Tucker asked, shocked at the sight. “What the hell?” He said enunciating every word slowly.

 

“Sorry Commander, I've got to get you guys out of here and back to the ship.” Travis explained.

 

“We just got this transporter hooked up for Colonel Dark Shirt, then he was supposed to let us go.” Tucker said.

 

“He was never going to do that.” Travis said. “The Captain and I had to alter the deal.” Looking at the transporter pad, he asked hopefully. “Does it work?”

 

“Yeah, it should. Why?” Tucker asked with confusion. “And what happened to Colonel Devion?”

 

“He's not all together right now.” Travis replied. He pulled out his communicator and flipped it open, “Captain, our people are secure. Time to throw that going away party we talked about.”

 

“Understood Travis, good job. Now get your butts back here as quick as you can, I think we've just worn out our welcome.” Archer said in no uncertain terms.

 

* * *

 

Soldiers were running as quickly as they could when they heard the self-destruct countdown echo through the corridors of the _Enterprise_. Within minutes the star destroyer released the docking clamps and the Starfleet vessel was floating free in the hold, the main bay doors opening in the attempt to expel the threatening ship from it's belly.

 

The bridge was completely empty as a shimmering blue light materialized six people onto it. “Okay, we're on the bridge!” Travis yelled into the communicator then jumped into his helm seat.

 

“No tractor beam, sorry guys.” Travis said with a grin as he maneuvered the thrusters to point the ship straight for the opening into space.

 

Suddenly the self-destruct countdown ceased as Travis carefully pilot the _Enterprise_ out and clear of the star destroyer. The Captain came on board the ship and shouted, “get us out of here, Travis!” The Lieutenant plunged them into high warp away from the now impotent warship behind them.

 

“How long until they get their sensors back up?” Archer asked.

 

“I don't know, I did a pretty good number on their computers.” Travis answered.

 

“Adjust your course for the Milky Way, Travis.” Archer ordered.

 

“Sir?” He asked.

 

“Just do it.” Archer said. “At least we'll be heading in the right direction.”

 

“Aye, sir.” Travis responded, and redirected the ship accordingly. Then his entire world seemed to slow down. “What the...?” He said.

 

“Hello, Lieutenant.” A voice said from somewhere near him.

 

“What's going on?” Travis asked. “What's happening.”

 

“I've slowed down your perceptions. This is just between the two of us. You and I need to work together, Lieutenant.” An image of a man appeared.

 

“Who are you?” Travis asked.

 

“Call me Daniel.” The man said.

 

“Ok, Daniel. What is it we're supposed to do together?” Travis asked.

 

“I'm going to open a hyperspace window while the ship is at warp. Then, I need you to focus on the moment we first jumped into hyperspace, before we came to this galaxy and begin to flow walk.

 

“That's really far into the future, and I've only done it once with Master Skywalker. I know things like size don't matter, but this...” Travis was doubtful. After everything he had experienced in the Force, he knew he shouldn't be, but... flow-walking the entire ship?

 

“I'll help you bring the ship along.” Daniel reassured him. “Between the two of us, we should be able to get home.” He then asked, “Are you with me?”

 

“Sure.” Travis said.

 

With the _Enterprise_ on course at warp five, a hyperspace window opened up in front of them. They slipped into it so quickly that no one on the bridge knew it had happened until it was too late. Then Travis closed his eyes and opened himself up to the Force around him. With Daniel's help he pushed out his awareness farther and farther until it seemed like the whole universe was opened to him, he then shifted his focus to pushing out his awareness through time itself and into the future as many, many possible futures opened up to him. “Let me guide you to the right one,” Daniel's voice told him. And Travis began to see the _Enterprise_ come into view on the edge of the Sol system. They were just about to jump combining the warp engines with the hyperdrive. “There.” Travis said. “I see us.”

 

Travis and Daniel then pulled them through time, and Travis let go of his anchor to the past.

 

* * *

 

The _Enterprise_ dropped into normal space somewhere past Pluto, and the ship's navigational computers immediately registered their location in space.

 

“What just happened?” Archer asked. “Why did we drop out of warp?”

 

Travis opened his eyes, looked at his navigational controls and panels and said, “I think we're back, Captain.”

 

“Back? What do you mean?” Archer asked, confused.

 

“Navigation is telling me we're just shy of Pluto heading back towards Earth, sir.” Travis told him.

 

“We're in the right place then?” Archer asked, “How did we get here?”

 

“I'm not sure, sir. I remember a guy named Daniel talking to me. It's all kind of fuzzy.” The helmsman said.

 

“Daniel.” Archer repeated. So, he came through for them after all.

 

Travis looked down at himself. “What am I wearing?” He said.

 

“You don't remember?” Archer asked.

 

“No sir.” He said confused. “The last few days in fact seem a little fuzzy. I remember that we went back in time and got stranded, but not much more than that.”

 

“Sir,” Hoshi spoke up, “I'm getting comm traffic on Starfleet channels. Starfleet command wants to know what happened with our final test.” She sounded relieved.

 

Archer himself let out a big sigh of relief. “Tell them it's a long story. I'll make a full report when we get back.”

 

* * *

 

“Captain's log: April 6th, 2158. After the events of our last week and a half or so, Starfleet decided to bury the hyperspace technology for the moment. They've decided we're just not ready for it yet, and I have to agree. Mysteriously, a few hours after we returned all the data on the project was found to be missing, along with all the navigational data and the storage device we brought back from the 'Star Wars' galaxy. Lieutenant Mayweather's lightsaber has gone missing as well. The only physical proof we seem to have of our little adventure is a few sensor readings and some scans of Naboo and Coruscant. I have to wonder if our mysterious benefactor, Daniel, had something to do with all of it. The hyperdrive is being disassembled and removed from the _Enterprise_ , and I can't say that I'm sorry to see it go. Maybe at some point in the far future Starfleet vessels will use it to go much farther out into space, but it seems for now we've got our hands full just exploring our own little corner of it. For the time being, _Enterprise_ is sitting once again in dry dock and most of our crew is down on Earth.”

 

Lieutenant Mayweather sat at his table in the cafe in San Francisco alone, a cooling cup of coffee placed in front of him. This particular place had the advantage of a great view of the Golden Gate bridge through its big open bay windows. He kept trying to recall... something. It was all a jumble in his head. Images, feelings, not a whole lot more than that. Every time he tried to put them together in his head to form a complete picture, they all fell apart again.

 

“Would you like some company?” A man's voice pulled him out of his attempts at recollection. He looked up to see a casually dressed man with darker sandy blond hair and a friendly smile. He seemed so familiar, but Travis just couldn't place where he'd seen him before.

 

“Sure, take a seat. I was just thinking anyway.” He invited him.

 

“What about?” The man asked.

 

“That's just it. I don't know. I feel like I've forgotten something. Something really important, and no matter how hard I try to remember, it keeps slipping from me.” Travis said with some frustration. He took a sip of his coffee.

 

“It'll probably come back to you, when you're more ready for it.” The stranger said. “The mind is funny that way.”

 

“Yeah maybe.” Travis said. “My name's Travis, by the way.” He said, hold out his hand to shake.

 

The stranger took it and said, “Daniel. Wow, this cafe's got a great view doesn't it?”

 

“It sure does. Almost reminds me of... it'll come back to me.” Travis said.

 

“That's okay. I've got all the time in the world today.” Daniel said.

 

They spent the rest of that afternoon chatting.


End file.
